


Love of Puyo Puyo

by TheBlackKid



Series: Love of Puyo Puyo [1]
Category: Puyo Puyo (Video Games)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Some Humor, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-06-05 05:31:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 41,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15163730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBlackKid/pseuds/TheBlackKid
Summary: AU. A girl and her mother, both with a dark past, move into a small town named Primp. Both try to start their lives anew while attempt to forget what brought them there in the first place. Starts as a prequel to Fever 1.





	1. Approaching a New Life

 

**(Amitie’s POV)**

 

“You okay back there, sweetie?”

“Yeah.”

“We still have a long way to go before we reach the new town. Try to get some sleep in the meantime, alright?”

“Yeah…OK, mom.”

I laid in the back seat of the car while my mom was driving. I was trying to get a decent amount of sleep before we reached our destination: A new home in a small town called Primp. We were moving from our old place in a big city to hopefully start life anew. And by “we”, I mean me and my mom. My Dad’s not in the picture anymore. Basically, he’s the reason we’re moving in the first place. Just thinking about what had _trusting_ such a person, _admiring_ such a person, _loving_ such a person. The intense thoughts had sent me into a deep depression, and my mom, along with a psychiatrist, thought it would be best to move on in a new environment.

 

 

“Still struggling, huh?”

I nodded my head, too distraught to say any words.

“Yeah. Me too.”

My mom was a bigger victim than I was in the events that had transpired back home. But unlike me, she's able to hide her fear and hide it well. Even after all she's been through with my (ex) dad, she manages to suck it up and care for my needs.

_Mom’s always been there for me since this mess began. It makes me think I was admiring the wrong person. That maybe if I was following her way, things could’ve been different. Maybe this outcome wouldn’t have come true if I…If I…I…_

I bawled out into tears before I could even finish my thoughts. Mom grabbed me and wrapped me around her waist, allowing me to release my hard tears onto her pink sweater.

“ **MOM! I’M SORRY!!! ALL OF THIS IS MY FAULT! WHAT HAPPENED TO ME, TO YOU, WHY WE’RE MOVING, ALL OF IT! IT’S ALL MY FAULT! IT’S ALL MY….** ”

“Amitie, please stop! None of what you just said is true. None of this is any of your fault. And I don’t blame you for anything that’s happened. In fact, if it makes you feel any better, I put all the blame on _you-know-who_. What’s happened is done, and as much as we don’t want to accept it, it’s a part of us now, and we just have to accept it and move on. Now, could you do your mom a request, and just try to forget the past? I don’t expect you to be your old cheery self at this very moment or anything, but a simple smile every now and then would make me happy.”

I stopped the heavy tears after hearing mom's heartwarming speech and looked up at her face. Her light-green eyes were filled with held back tears. I've recently started admiring her for staying strong through all this mess, but at the same time, I started worrying if all this holding back is good for her health and sanity.

“ _W…Will it really, mom?_ ”

“Absolutely 100%, sweetie.”

 I gave my mom her one request and formed a smile on my still distraught face. It was a small one, it was big enough for her to hug me tighter around my waist. I could feel her once held back tears run down my arm, which was my one request for her. We sat there in the back seat of the car, embraced in each other's arms for about 5 – 10 minutes, hearing other people drive by in their cars and honking their horns at us. It might have been embarrassing, but I didn't care. I felt like I and mom just grew closer than before, and in the first time since who knows how long, I started to love my mom, something that should've been a thing a long time ago. I hope I can share this feeling with someone else, because I don't want to lose it again.

Not know, not ever.

 

After an hour of our continued drive to this new town, Mom pulled over at a nearby inn and decided that we should call it a night for now. I agreed with the idea because not only was I tired, but I really haven't eaten anything since the day we left our old home. Which, as far as I could remember, was about a day ago.

What I do remember about that day was how sad and depressing it was for me. When we decided to move, we had to say goodbye to a lot of people. Friends, neighbors, favorite teachers…I had to say goodbye to all of them. And it was really was hard for me to not break down into tears in front of them. But I managed to do it…somehow.

_But I miss them all. Ally, Ayumi, my old home, neighborhood, and school. I just hope that I can see them again soon._

“Amitie…”

“H-Huh?” I reacted when Mom called out my name. Then, for whatever reason, I felt the cheeks on my face. And realized that I was crying again.

“S-Sorry, Mom. I-I was just…th-thinking of everyone back home.”

“I know, sweetie. I miss them too. But we’ll see them again soon. I promise.”

“R-Really?”

“I 100% promise you, Ami.”

…

“O-Okay, Mom.” I said, feeling a little bit better than I was a few seconds ago.

“Now then, I went ahead and got some pizza from next door. How’s about we take baths and eat before we head for bed, alright?”

“ ***giggle*** Sure, Mom.”

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing. It’s just it’s kinda odd seeing you so serious about something.”

“Hey! I may not do normal motherly things, especially at my age, but I’m still a mother, you know.”

“Yeah, a very _special_ one.” I said, putting the word special in air quotes.

“Meanie.”

“Silly.”

“Just get in the bath!” Mom sounded insulted.

“Alright, alright.” I said. I then grabbed a set of pajamas and headed for the bathroom.

 

As I sat in the tub, I started having more thought run through my head. But unlike the previous ones, these were good and happy thoughts. I was actually somewhat excited to be moving into a new town. There’s a possibility that I could meet new friends and neighbors. And this school Mom told me about, Primp Magic School…I’m not really sure how a magic school exists, considering that there’s no such thing as magic. Well at least, I’ve never seen it with my own eyes. But maybe I’ll get to see it someday.

“Maybe this new life…won’t be so bad after all. I mean, I’ll be away from _him_ , so that’s a plus. Other than that, I’m basically starting over. Who knows how that’s going to work out. I can only hope it doesn’t get as bad as my old one.” I whispered to myself.

“Amitie. Are you done yet? Dinner’s getting cold.”

“Coming, Mom.”

After I came out of the bath, I ate some of the pizza while Mom took her bath. Later on, we were both in the one single bed the room had and trying to get some sleep. I wanted to talk to Mom a little bit, but…

“Hey, Mom…”

“ _Zzzzzzz…_ ”

…She was already fast asleep.

“ _sigh._ She needs it more than me.” I said as I turned to face the other way. After a few minutes, I ended up falling asleep myself. And for the first time in a couple days…

…I actually felt a smile run across my face.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first break in this chapter was the original chapter. What's after it was added because I didn't like how short it was. I've been meaning to rewrite this chapter for a while. Wasn't satisfied with how short it was. Going to be doing the same thing to chapters 3 & 4 too. So just a heads up.


	2. The New Girl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *This chapter was edited. As some things were either added or removed from the original version.*

**Raffina’s POV**

 

“ **DAMN THAT KLUG! HE AGGRAVATES ME TO NO END!** ”

 I was walking home from another irritating day at school. Klug, the self-proclaimed genius of the world, was testing everyone’s last nerve again, and I was about to let him have it that time if Ms. Accord didn’t walk in at that exact moment.

**_*_ BEGIN FLASHBACK _*_**

“Raffina, you really need to control your anger towards Klug.” Ms. Accord said to me while we were in her strangely spacious office.

“But Ms. Accord, you see how he is! He throws insults at me related to different types of primates! It’s infuriating!”

“I know, but that’s just how he is. And we can’t change that, as much as we want to.”

“Come on, please? All it’ll take is one punch and he’ll change ways for good!”

“I would like to see that, meow.” Popoi said.

“See? Even Popoi agrees with me! And he doesn’t usually agree with anyone but you!”

“Raffina…”

“ _*sigh*_ Fine, Ms. Accord. I’ll at least _try_ to keep it in.”

“As long as you try, it’s fine by us, right Popoi?”

“You could at least give her idea a shot…”

“ _Popoi…_ ”

“Just meowing”

“Anyway, please try to restrain yourself, Raffina. Especially with the new student around.”

“Yeah, fine. Whatever.”

***END FLASHBACK***

And that’s almost every day for me. I don’t understand how Ms. Accord puts up with Klug’s jerkish personality with a straight face. It makes me angry as hell, and I’ve seen Lidelle cry a few times because of it.

And then Tarutaru, the biggest guy in the whole school, doesn’t do anything about it. He just sits to himself all day. It pisses me off how I have to just deal with this damn nonsense every day and no one does a damn thing about it! At least I’m willing to stand my ground and show people that I will hurt them if they get me angry.

I may not have any friends because of that, but who really cares? I’m too damn elegant to be friends with any of these plebs. _Oh La-Ti-Da!_

 

I spent the next 2-3 minutes or so grumbling to myself and imagining obscenities I would love to say to Klug. This method always calms me down when days like this happen (which as I said before, is every day).

I was a couple inches from my house when a big truck came speeding down the street. The force from it passing by almost lifted my skirt, but I managed to hold it in place, saving myself from extreme embarrassment.

“ **HEY! SLOW DOWN, YOU DAMN MANIC!!!** ”I shouted as loud as I could to whoever was driving the truck, but obviously he or she didn’t hear me. Once I calmed down a little, I noticed that it was heading the direction of an area that seemed a bit off to me.

_Now that I think about it, that was a moving truck, right? Is someone moving here? If so, the only available house in that direction is…I’ve gotta see this for myself._

I then started following the truck down the street it was going, passing up my house in the process, to where I’m pretty sure this truck is heading to.

After a few minutes of chasing this truck like a dog off its leash, it finally stopped in front of the place I was thinking of the whole time following it. It was a greyish white house that was abandoned for the past 10 years or so. The building itself looked somewhat fine besides the graffiti on some parts. The grass surrounding it, on the other hand, was really overgrown. I wouldn't be surprised to see at least a few Onion Pixies living in there.

_Someone’s going to live **here?!** This place is a dump! But I guess not everyone can be as luxurious as me! Oh La-Ti-Da!_

I watched as two guys came out of the truck and opened the back door to reveal some boxes inside. There weren't really that many boxes inside. In fact, there were a lot less than what you would expect for people moving somewhere. There weren't even any furniture inside.

_Okay, what’s with these people? Why do they barely have any stuff with them? Are they really **THAT** poor?_

As I continued to think to myself, I started remembering what Ms. Accord said at the end of our chat earlier.

“Please try to restrain yourself, Raffina. Especially with the new student around.” 

_Weird. Ms. Accord never said anything about a new student at all during class today. Knowing her, she was probably trying to keep it a secret again. And I bet she was planning to tell us at the last minute again. But somehow, she managed to slip up and told me. And neither she or Popoi noticed. I'm going to have fun talking to her before class tomorrow. Oh La-Ti-Da!_

 About 5-10 minutes after the truck came, a grey-ish four-door sedan pulled up to the driveway of the empty house. What came out of it were two people. One was a blonde-haired woman who looked young and slim, almost like a model. I’ve never seen anyone who could be as pretty as me. She could easily rival me for the prettiest girl in Primp. 

And I’m only saying that she could, not that she should. No one would **EVER** have the chance to beat me! Oh La-Ti-Da!

Behind my possible rival was another girl who, judging by her height, was around my age. She had a grey hoodie over her head, so I couldn’t make out her face. But I did see a strand of blonde hair come out of it, so I can safely assume that they’re sisters.

Then the shorter girl then removed her hood and I was able to get a good look at her. Now I was 100% sure they were sisters. Both had blonde hair, both had green eyes, both had the same facial features, but when I looked at the younger girl again, I noticed her eyes were red and puffy.

_Was she crying the entire way here from wherever she’s from? I mean, I wouldn’t know how to sympathize with her. If I had to move from here, I wouldn’t mind at all. Cause I would finally be away from Klug._

The two girls went inside the house along with the moving crew carrying the few boxes with them. Normally, I would turn around and go home right about now. But my curiosity got the best of me. And when nobody was looking, I hid behind one of the tall parts of grass at the side of the house.

When I eventually found the nearest window, I peeked inside the house and saw it being filled with only the now countable 8 boxes inside, which in all took them about 4 minutes to do.

I scanned the house a little more and to the far left of it was the kitchen. From what I could make out of it from the terrible angle I was in, it was very small. The living room was just a simple square. No corners or anything like that. There was an entryway to a possible back part of the house, but…this place looked way too small for anyone to live in.

_Or maybe I’m just saying that because I live in a mansion…_

I then caught a glance of the younger blonde again. And I had to admit, despite them being puffy from all the crying she was probably doing, she had such beautiful green eyes. I couldn’t stop staring at them. They were just so…mesmerizing.

Soo after, I felt my body getting hot and my heart beating fast. And the more I stared at her, the warmer and faster they got. I didn’t know what was happening to me…

…

…b-but I…kinda like it.

I wanted to stay a little longer and continue to stare at this girl. But then I felt an interruption on my butt. And it was starting to hurt a lot. I then looked beside me to see what was causing such a literal pain in the ass.

And for the first time in my life, I wished that I was wrong about something.

“Onion!”

_Damnit! I knew there had to be at least one! And it’s the OG one, too!_

“Go away, Onion Pixy! I’m busy!” I whispered.

“Onion?! Onion! Onion onion!”

“I said go away! And keep it down while you’re at it!”

“ **Onion! Onion! Onion!** ”

“Listen, you damn mutant vegetable! I don’t know what you want and I don’t care what you want! Get the hell away from me!”

“ _Onion…_ ”

As I went back to watch…

“ **GAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!** ”

I then felt excruciating pain in the one place a girl doesn’t want to feel pain in. It was hurting so bad, I feel like I was about to cry. But I managed to hold in my tears of pain and replaced them with the most pissed off look anyone could have.

“ ** _You little runt! You DARE hit a lady in their most special spot?! I’LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR THAT!!!_** ”

“O-Onion…”

I was about to turn this onion into a salad topping, when…

“Hello? Is anyone out here?”

**_Crap! They heard me!_ **

I started panicking a lot and without thinking, I tried to leave the patch of grass I was hiding in. but I wasn’t looking where I was going, and I tripped over Onion Pixy and fell to the ground. Scraping my knee in the process.

“ **GAH! Are you freaking kidding me?!** ”

“ **Onion! On, on, onion!** ”

“Is someone in this grass?”

**_Crap! I need to get out of here!_ **

Not having any time to stop, I grabbed Onion Pixy by his head and ran out a side of the grass hoping not to be seen by one of the two girls here. I wasn’t sure if I did or not, but I didn’t have the clear mind to check.

Once I was far enough, I stopped and took multiple deep breaths to regain my lady-like composer. Which was a hard thing to do with the extreme pain in my crotch.

Which reminds me…

I took one look at Onion Pixy and he took a look at me. I then threw him up in the air and prepared to return the favor from earlier.

“Ready, and… **CEIL ARK!** ”

***POW***

“ **OOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNN!!!!** ”

“ **SCREW YOU, YOU DAMN PIECE OF COMPOST!!!** " I shouted as Onion Pixy flew away to who knows where.

“ _Ow. My crotch. I better get home and see how much damage he did to it._ ”

 

It was a really painful walk home. I think I actually made it worse from taking big steps instead of small ones. But I really wanted to get home quickly. So either way, I couldn't win.

I managed to get home and climb up the stairs to my room, grabbing the first-aid kit while doing so. I went inside my bathroom, closed and locked the bathroom door, and started undressing until I was completely nude. I then kept staring at my crotch, seeing how bruised it was from Onion Pixy’s spiked club. Thankfully, it wasn’t bleeding. It isn’t time for me to be worrying about blood coming from that place.

_At least not yet, anyway._

As I was applying some first-aid cream to my private area, I couldn’t stop thinking about that girl. The fact that her eyes were that swollen from the amount of crying she did…it honestly had me thinking.

_She looked so miserable. Almost like she was depressed or something. I feel like whatever her reason for moving here is a horrible one. Normally, I couldn’t care less about other people’s feelings, but for some reason…this girl…she’s different somehow._

I then started feeling warm all over my body and felt my heart beating like crazy again. And I looked at myself in the mirror and saw that I was blushing a little this time. The first two were repeats. The blushing was all new.

“Geez, I’m probably overthinking it.” I shook my head out of that train of thought and after a couple minutes to let the cream set in, I decided to take a shower to clear my mind little.

After that, I got dressed in one of my elegant nightgowns and decided to go to bed early. The thoughts of that girl were still rambling through my mind. I couldn’t stop thinking about her.

I don’t know a single thing about that girl, or what happened in her past to make her look so depressed. But what I do know is that Ms. Accord has a lot of explaining to do.

_And plus, I get to rub it in her face! Oh La-Ti-Da!_


	3. The First Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *This chapter was edited. As some things were either added or removed from the original version.*

**Amitie’s POV**

 

“Okay, that’s the last of them.” One of the moving guys said to Mom.

“Thank you so much. I know it was only a few boxes, but we still appreciate the help. If only I had some money to give you…”

“Don’t worry about it, ma’am. The whole trip’s free of charge.” The other moving guy said.

“R-Really?! W-Wow! Thank you so much!”

"Good luck with your new life."

The moving crew left the house and drove off in their truck back the way they came. Leaving us with the 8 boxes filled with stuff from our old home. We didn’t bring any of our old furniture because those things just remind us of the terrifying memories that we really want to forget.

“Well…this is it, Ami. our new home. Wanna take a look around?”

“Sure…I guess.” I said with a depressed tone.

We took a tour of the house and it’s quite small. But then again, it’s only going to be the two of us living here, so having a bigger house wouldn’t make much sense.

 There were the standard rooms you expect to see in a house like this. A living area, kitchen, one bathroom, two bedrooms, an extra room for probably a guest or something, and a small patio in the back. From what Mom told me, the place had been empty for nearly a decade. I thought she was exaggerating a bit…

…but she wasn’t.

The place was dusty. And I mean **_REALLY_** dusty. So dusty, in fact, that there were cobwebs in certain corners of the house. No spiders though. At least we have that going for us.

“Uh, Mom. It’s really **_*cough* *cough*_** dusty in here.” I said while covering my nose with my shirt.

“It’s not that bad, Ami. A little cleaning should fix this place up.”

“ _A little?_ ”

“Ok, **A LOT** of cleaning. We’ll start that and unpack our stuff during the weekend. For now, let’s just get cleaned up and then I’ll get dinner ready, alright?”

“Dinner? What’s for dinner?”

“Instant ramen.”

“S-Seriously? That’s all you brought?”

“Well, we don’t have much money, Ami. We have to save as much as we can until we can get back on our feet. So just bear with me please?”

“I-I didn’t say I wouldn’t. It’s just…you could’ve picked something other than ramen.”

“ _And just_ _what is wrong with ramen?_ ” Mom asked while sounding a little pissed.

_Fiddlesticks. I forgot that Mom loves ramen…_

“U-Uh…wh-what I mean is…”

“ **GAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!** ”

“Hey, did you hear that?”

“It’s probably a squirrel or something.”

“Mom, squirrels don’t scream like that. I think someone’s outside.”

“Well, if you’re so sure about it, then you go out and check.”

“M-Me?! Wh-Why?! You’re the adult!”

“And you insulted my favorite food. Now go.”

“Meanie.” I said as I headed out the front door.

When I got outside, I noticed that the tall grass was moving rapidly like someone was in the middle of them. As I got closer, I started hearing a voice.

“ ** _You little runt! You DARE hit a lady in their most special spot?! I’LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR THAT!!!_** ”

_“Special spot?” What the hell?_

“H-Hello? I-Is anyone out here?” I asked whoever was in the grass.

The movement speed of the grass suddenly got faster after I said that. I was honestly getting scared. I didn’t know or what was in those stacks of grass. And I was trying to think of what to do next.

But while I was doing so…

“ **GAH! Are you freaking kidding me?!** ”

“ **Onion! On, on, onion!** ”

_T-Two voices?! Th-There are two people in there?! Th-That’s even worse!_

“I-Is someone in this grass?” I asked again. And this time, I even started moving closer to the tall grass. That’s when I saw something pop out from the side of it. looking like it was running really fast.

I couldn’t get a good look at it, but it…looked like a girl. A girl with long, pink, somewhat curly hair. It also looked like she was carrying something in her hand. But I couldn’t make heads or tails on what it was. The whole thing was almost a blur to me.

I stood there in shock for a bit, but eventually came back to my senses and went back inside.

“So was it a squirrel?” Mom asked.

“What? No. It was actually a girl.”

“A girl? What was she doing there?”

“Not sure. B-But she did say something about her…um… _sp-special spot_.” I said the last part while blushing a little.

“Why are you blushing? You got one too.”

“ **Y-Yeah, but I don’t like talking about it!** ”

“Geez, Ami. You’re too pure for your own good.”

“ **It’s not me being pure! It’s me being normal!** ”

“Whatever you say, Ami.”

_I think I’m starting to remember why I didn’t follow Mom all too often._

“Well, whatever she was doing, she’s gone now. I’m going to take my bath now.” I said.

“Don’t take long. Or else your **_ramen_** will get cold.”

“ **Tch!** ” I actually flinched a little when Mom said that.

_Fiddlesticks! I forgot about the ramen!_

 

You would think that in a house that hasn’t been habituated by anyone in nearly a decade, the bathroom would be the filthiest area in the house. But to my surprise, it was the complete opposite. Even the water was clear. I decide not to question it, described it as lucky, and took my bath.

Soon after I finished my bath Mom took hers, and later we were sitting on futons in the middle of the living room eating instant ramen while watching some mystery crime solving show on a streaming site on Mom’s computer. I took a quick glance around the house again, still wondering how Mom was able to afford this place despite us leaving our old home with little to no money.

“S-So, Mom…just how were you able to get this house?”

“A friend of my who lives here saved it for me. And I’ve heard that is was a steal, too.”

“I-It was probably a steal because no one’s lived here in 10 years.”

“Don’t worry, Ami. This house is perfectly safe. A bit dirty, but perfectly safe.”

“Yeah, but even if you say that…”

“You’re still worried about us being **_safe_** , are you?”

I didn’t really answer her perfectly. But when Mom saw me looking away from her, she figured out what my answer was.

"Amitie. I know you're still going through your depression, but I can assure you that we are perfectly safe here. We left all our bad memories behind and we've come here to create pure new ones.”

“But what if the bad ones come back? **WHAT IF _HE_ COMES BACK?!? WHAT IF HE DOE…** ”

Before I could finish my sentence, Mom grabbed me and pulled me closer to her, embracing me into a hug. Her body was warm. As warm as a blanket coming out of the dryer. It could be because she just got out the bath, but that didn’t cross my mind at all.

“ **LIKE HELL HE WILL!!! AND IF HE DOES SHOW HIS DAMN FACE AROUND HERE I’LL MAKE HIM PAY! I’LL MAKE HIM REGRET EVERYTHING HE’S DONE TO US, EVEN IF IT’LL COST ME MY LIFE!** ”

“Mom, please don’t! I don’t want anything happing to you. Because then I’ll be alone.”

"You'll never be alone, Amitie! You've got me, and I got you. And after all we've been through, I'm glad I get to start over with you, my daughter!”

I started bawling out tears for the second time today after hearing Mom’s heart-warming speech. I had my arms around her waist and she had hers around mine. Including the chat that happened in the car earlier today, this was the happiest I’ve been in a long time.

“I love you, Mom.”

“I love you too, Ami. I’ll always will.”

We then went to sleep still hugging each other. We both had a long day today. And starting tomorrow, our new pure lives will be in effect.

_Watch me now, new life! I’m coming for you!_


	4. Avoiding Death & Gaining Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *This chapter was edited. As some things were either added or removed from the original version.*

**Raffina’s POV**

 

“ ***moan*** It’s morning already? I feel like I just went to bed. Damnit.”

I barely got any sleep last night. Multiple images of that blonde girl from yesterday kept appearing in my dreams. With her eyes being so puffy you could mistake them for bee stings, you could easily mistake her for a monster. It kept me up for most of the night. Not to mention the countless information about her that I bet Ms. Accord is hiding.

_It’s weird. These thoughts…I can’t get them out of my head. Normally, I wouldn’t be caring so much about someone other than me. But this girl…this one girl. My curiosity has been peaked like never before. Something’s definitely up with that girl. And I really want to know._

I got out of my bed at a slower pace than I normally do. I was still in pain from what Onion Pixy did to me, but not as much as yesterday. As I’m able to walk normally again.

I looked out the window of my double glass doors in my room facing the pool and saw that some of the trees surrounding the backyard were shaking a little. Which only meant one thing…

“Geez. It must be cold outside. I hope I can find some pants or something to wear today.”

I went over and opened the door to reveal my ginormous walk-in closet. Inside is my entire collection of fabulous and expensive clothes, shoes, and jewelry alike. I’m very proud of it. Mainly because it’s my parents buying me all this elegant beauty.

They’re…currently not in the picture right now. But as long as they keep sending me stuff only an elegant and graceful lady like me could wear, I couldn’t care less about what they’re doing right now! _Oh, La-Ti-Da!_

I started going through my precious collection to look for something to keep me warm today. It actually took me a while, because I would occasionally stop and admire it for a couple of minutes. It’s a habit of mine. A really good one that I don’t ever plan on stopping…

…

Well, okay. Maybe I can spend less time doing this. I sometimes end up late for school because of it.

I eventually did pick out something to wear today. I found this really cute orange mini-dress to go with these white designer jeans that I haven’t worn yet. And over the mini-dress was a black jacket with white stripes on the sleeves. I even had these cute white and orange shoes that matched the whole outfit. And this pretty white flower to go on my head. Once I got dressed, I looked at the mirror and couldn’t stop giggling to myself. I looked so cute, I could just kiss myself.

“There! Not only am I super warm, but I look so damn cute, too! There’s no way people can compete with me! Not even that girl from…

…

…yesterday.”

I stopped talking and stared at myself in the mirror. The same thoughts from before were messing up my time of self-complimenting. And it actually made me grow a sad look on my face.

“It’s that girl! That damn girl! I don’t know what it is, but it has something to do with that girl! **Just what the hell is it?!** ”

***KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK***

“ _Hey, Raffina. Can you keep it down a little? It’s too early for yelling._ ”

“Uh…s-sorry, Amira.”

That’s just my older sister. I’ll tell you about her later. Right now, I need to get to school I end up late again.

_I can’t afford any more detentions…_

 

 I was right about the weather being cold today. A cool breeze was hitting my face every 10 seconds or so. It was a good thing that I brought a light-turquoise scarf with me. The chances of me getting sick are lower now.

While I was walking to school, those same thoughts of that girl kept swarming in my mind. That same face was like a memory that I can’t forget. I don’t know why, but every time it shows up, I get the same effects as the others times before. Those teary green puffy eyes were just the most absolute **SADDEST** thing I’ve ever seen.

“Why…?”

“ _Raffina…_ ”

“Why does that face absorbs me so deeply…?”

“ _Raffina…_ ”

**“WHY CAN’T I FORGET?!”**

**“RAFFINA!!!”**

Without realizing, I ended up lying down on a patch of grass, dazed and confused. With the recent thoughts clearing away (for now), I opened my eyes slightly to see a green blur floating above me. I took me a while to figure out what that green blur was, but when I did, boy was I mad.

“ **Lidelle?! What are you doing?! Get off me!** ” I yelled as I shoved Lidelle off me and got up from on the grass, patting the dirt off my jeans in the process.

“ **You better have a good reason for pushing me into the dirty patch of grass, Lidelle! Or else you’re _really_ gonna get it!** ” I yelled, making a threating fist with my right hand. Naturally, Lidelle started tearing up, as she was always afraid of angry me, and well me in general.

“ ***shriek*** I-I’m s-sorry, R-Raffina. I-It’s…j-just…w-well…u-uh…”

“ **Just what?!** ” I yelled, growing impatient. She was also known for stuttering her sentences a lot, with her being such a shy girl.

“ ***shriek*** **I-It’s just you were about to hit by a car and didn’t know what else do! So I jumped in and pushed you out of the way! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! PLEASE DON’T HURT ME!** ” Lidelle had said that really fast, then started crying out of fear.

The minute she did stop talking, I unclenched my fist and began to tear up myself.

_Wha…What the… **What the hell is wrong with me?!** Lidelle just risked her life just to save mine, and I was about to beat her for it! Am I really **THAT** scary?! I never would’ve thought this would happen. I mean, I would always have dreams of me being rescued by a handsome prince of some sorts…but I never thought it would happen in real life! These thoughts have gone to a point to where I almost **DIED** because of them! That’s it! I’ve had enough! No more of these damn thoughts messing with me! I’m going to face Ms. Accord and **DEMAND** that she tells me **EVERYTHING** about that girl! But first… I need to make this right.     _

I got down to Lidelle’s kneeling height and pulled her in for a hug. I was extremely grateful for her risking her life to save mine. Even after how I’ve been so mean to her all this time.

“Lidelle… **I should be the one who's sorry! I was about to hurt you for just because you saved my life! I’m such a horrible person! But after this near-death experience, I want to change! And I plan to change! No more mean, scary, wanting to beat people up me! I’m really going to turn over a new leaf! So do you have it in your heart to forgive me?!** ” I was bawling out tears at this point.

“S-S-Seriously, Raffina?! Y-Y-You’re going to change?!”

“Yes! And I mean it, too! I just got a second chance at life, and I’m not going to waste it by being my current self!”

Lidelle sat there in shock for a bit. Then after a few seconds, she returned my hug and we continued like this for a good while. Afterward, we got up from the ground and continued our walk to school. It was then that I noticed what Lidelle was wearing. Which was a green sleeveless shirt and black warmers on both arms. She also wore a short green mini-skirt and black leg warmers over her green and white sneakers. And in between the shirt and skirt was a black belt that looked like it wasn’t holding up anything.

It was…interesting. To say the least.

_Man. Lidelle sure loves the color green, huh?_

“ H-Hey, Raffina. I-I’ve been wondering…s-seeing you cry was a rare sight for me. A-Are you okay?” Lidelle asked me.

“Well…I’ve been through a lot these past few hours.”

“Really? What happened?”

“ _Well…_ ”

I then told Lidelle everything that’s happened the past couple of hours. From seeing the blonde girl with swollen eyes from the excessive crying and who could be our new classmate, to not being able to sleep last night due to these thoughts going on in my head.

I left out the injury part. I don’t feel comfortable telling someone I got a bruise on my…you know.

But even without knowing that, Lidelle seemed to understand. Because she gave me another hug after I had finished explaining everything. She’s so sweet and kind. I can’t believe I was mean to such an innocent girl like her.

“Wow, Raffina. That sounds horrible.” She said.

“Yeah, you don’t have to tell me twice.”

“Makes me want to ask Ms. Accord about that girl, too.”

“Wait, you do? Why?”

“Well…It seems to be causing you a lot of stress. And I don’t like it when my friends stress.”

“F-Friend?!”

“Y-Yeah. Y-You’re my friend, Raffina. A-Am I wrong?”

“W-Well…n-no. I-It’s just…I-I’ve never really…h-had a…fr-fr…friend before.”

_Aw, geez. Now she has me stuttering._

“R-Really? N-Not even one?”

“Sadly, no.”

“Whoa. W-Well it’s okay now, Raffina. I-I’ll be your friend.”

“R-Really?! Y-You would?!”

“Sure. I like having friends. Having one makes me so happy. E-Especially nowadays.” Lidelle had said that last part with a sad tone. Which I was able to pick up.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” I asked.

“N-Nothing…i-it’s just…T-Tarutaru’s been ignoring me a lot recently. He doesn’t talk to me, we don’t eat lunch together, and we don’t even walk home together anymore. I-It’s like he doesn’t want to be my friend anymore.”

“Really? Tarutaru?”

“Y-Yeah. I-It’s weird…and it also hurts.”

Lidelle looked like she was about to cry. This problem of hers must really be hurting her right now. I had to make her feel better. I mean, she did it to me. And that’s what friends do right?

I grabbed Lidelle and brought her closer to embrace in a hug once more, only this one was longer than the ones before. Since I always believed that I was so much better than everyone else, I didn’t think I needed friends. But Lidelle still treats me like one, even after all the times I’ve walked all over her. And she even saved my life (I still can’t get over that). I guess this is what friendship is like these days.

_I could get used to this…_

“Not to worry, Lidelle. I may not know what’s going on in Tarutaru’s big stupid head, but I’ll be your friend. Your best friend. And I won’t ignore you either.” I said.

“R-Really, Raffina? Y-You mean it?”

“Yep. I truly mean it.” I said with an added smile.

 Lidelle looked very happy when I said that. She looks really cute when she smiles. Which was another thing that I never noticed until now.

“Now let us continue our walk to school. Don’t want to be late now, do we? _Oh, La-Ti-Da!_ ”

But Lidelle didn’t answer me. Instead, she just stared at me with a confused look on her face.

“What?” I asked.

“W-Well…it’s just I’ve been wondering. What does it mean when you say “ _Oh La-Ti-Da!_ ” like that?”

…

…

“You know, to be honest…I don’t really know. I just like saying it. Call it a hobby, if you must.”

“Huh. Okay then.”

We both then continued making our way to school. During the walk, the thoughts of the blonde girl came back soon after. But at least now I’ve got someone to help me deal with them.

And besides, better Lidelle than Klug. _Oh, La-Ti-Da!_


	5. New School Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *This chapter was edited. As some things were either added or removed from the original version.*
> 
> *This and the next chapter were originally one chapter. But were made separate and given more detail in each.*

**Amitie’s POV**

 

***RING* *RING* *RING***

“ ***moan*** Morning already?”

I looked at the alarm on my phone while rubbing my eye and saw that it was 7:00 am, the time we agreed to wake up in the mornings. I turned off the alarm and looked over to Mom, who was still asleep.

“Hey. Mom. Wake up.” I said to her.

No response.

“Come on, we’re going to be late.” I started shaking her a little.

Still no response.

“ _Mom…_ ” I was starting to get irritated.

Not a single sound.

“ **MOM!** ” I shouted in her ear.

“ ***moan*** Five more minutes, Ami.”

“Five more minutes?! Mom, you’re the one who chose this time!”

“I did? ***moan*** Ok, Ok. I’m getting up.”

Mom sat up from her futon with her long blonde hair all messed up and frizzy. She barely had her eyes open and had a little drool on the side of her mouth.

“Geez. Are you always this heavy of a sleeper?” I asked.

“Hey, I’m an adult. Every adult is a heavy sleeper.”

“Pretty sure not _every_ adult…”

“Plus, we did have a long day yesterday.”

“Yeah, true. If I didn’t have to go to school today, I would be still sleeping too.”

“See? So you can’t be mad at me.”

“Okay, I get it. Just hurry up and get dressed.”

“Alright, alright.”

After Mom eventually got out of her futon, we freshened up and were eating breakfast on the very same futons we were sleeping on. We don’t have any furniture, nor can we afford any, so we have to make do with these.

“So…this is it. Today’s the day we start our new lives. You think you’re ready for it?” Mom asked, all while slurping down her instant ramen cup. Again, we don’t have any money, so we have to make do with what we got.

“W-Well…I-I’m not really sure.”

“Huh? Why not?”

“Well…I’m going to a new school with people I don’t even know in the middle of the school year. What if I don’t make any friends?”

“Oh come on, sweetie. Of course you’ll make friends. Why do you think I named you Amitie?”

“My name has a meaning?”

“Yeah. It means “friendship” in French.”

“How the heck do you know French?”

“Well…”

Just as Mom was about to answer, her phone rang and she picked it up to answer that instead of my question.

“Uh, hey!” I got upset.

“Hold on a sec, Ami.” She said to me. “Hello?”

“ _Hey. Are you up yet?_ ”

“Of course I’m up! Did you really had to call and check?!”

“ _Well, knowing you, it’s almost necessary._ ”

“Geez. Still treating me like a 5-year-old.”

“ _That’s because you act like one, meow._ ”

“Hey…”

“ _Just hurry and get going. Please don’t be late for that job I got you._ ”

“Alright, fine. Oh, and…thanks again for your help. I really owe you big.”

“ _You’re welcome. Hope to see you sometime._ ”

“Same here.”

Mom then hung up the phone and finally gave her attention back to me.

“Who was that?” I asked.

“Oh, just a friend of mine. Nothing to worry about.”

“I see. And I heard that you got a job already?”

“Yep. I got a job writing light novels for the library in this town. I’m supposed to meet with the owner today.”

“You? Writing? Since when did you do that?”

“Since back in high school.”

“And you never bothered to tell me?”

“You never asked.”

…

…

I released a small sigh while facepalming my entire face at the same time.

“And what’s _that’s_ supposed to mean?” Mom got insulted.

“Nothing, Mom.”

I then looked at the clock on my own phone and saw that it was 7:30 am.

“Well, I better be going. School’s gonna start in 30 minutes.” I said before getting up from my pink futon.

“Do you know where the school is?”

“I added the address to Google Maps. It should take me there.”

“Alright, then. Have fun at your new school.”

“Alright, Mom. See ya.” I said as I headed out the door.

 

I was standing in front of the door outside the house, shivering a bit due to the cool breeze hitting my face. I was wearing a white jacket over a dark-grey shirt. I also had a pair of black sweatpants and these white sneakers I had bought before moving here.

It wasn’t much, but the rest of my clothes were left behind at my old home. Too many bad memories with those.

_Memories that I want to forget._

As I started walking further away from the front door, I began remembering something from yesterday. I then looked to my right and stared at the tall patch of grass at the house. It was when the memory of what happened yesterday came back to my mind.

_That girl……Why was she in those grass patches yesterday? Was she spying on us? Or perhaps…was she judging us already?! Do people really that here?! Will she be my classmate?! What will she think of me if that’s the case?_

“Wh-What am I thinking? I-I’m probably overreacting. Could be the first-day jitters getting to me. Anyway, I better get going. Can’t be late for my first day at a new school.”

I then continued my walk to my new school. All while being excited…and somewhat nervous.

  It’s a huge stress starter for anyone my age. Going to a brand new school in a brand new town with little to no guidance whatsoever. Of course, I would be nervous. I wasn’t really familiar with this town. In fact, I don’t I’ve ever heard of this place called “Primp Town”.

_Now that I think about it, just what is a primp?_

As I was walking, I did look around at the surrounding areas near me. It’s really peaceful here, I had to admit. A lot quieter than back home. It was something I think I could get used to rather quickly.

“ _YOU HAVE REACHED YOUR DESTINATION._ ”

This was Google Maps telling me that I was at the school. I looked up from my phone and saw that it was pretty big for such a small town like this. Looked kinda weird-looking, too.

But no matter how weird it looked, this was my school now. So I had to just get used to it.

I took one last deep breath to myself as I turned my phone on silent and placed it in my pocket.

“Well…here I go.” I said. Then I finally started walking towards the front doors. Ready to start a new school life.


	6. The Fifth Classmate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *This chapter was edited. As some things were either added or removed from the original version.*
> 
> *This and the previous chapter were originally one chapter. But they were made separate and given more detail in each.*

**Raffina’s POV**

 

When Lidelle and I got to school, the first thing we did was go straight to Ms. Accord’s office and get her to tell us what was going on with this new girl.

“ **Ms. Accord!** ” I yelled while slamming the door open. Luckily, she was the only one there. So it wasn’t that much of a disturbance.

“ Oh. Good morning, Raffina and Lidelle. Oh my, Raffina! You look rough! What happened?!”

“ **Never mind that! We need to talk about what you said yesterday!** ”

“What I said yesterday?”

“Teacher. You accidentally told Raffina about the new student we’re getting. And she’s been thinking about it since.” Lidelle said.

“I didn’t even sleep last night because of it.” I added.

“See? I meowed you she’ll notice.” Popoi said.

“Yeah, you did. I guess rich people are smart after all.” Ms. Accord whispered that last part, but I was still able to hear it.

“Um, hello! I’m right here!” I got insulted.

“Of course. So sorry, Raffina. But I guess I did _accidentally_ tell you about it.”

Lidelle and I were completely confused from what she just said. Ms. Accord was always a little suspicious when it came to these type of things. But this one by far took the cake.

“Eh? What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

“Well…maybe I **did** wanted you to know.” Ms. Accord said with a giggle.

“Huh?” And the two of us were even more confused.

“ ***giggle*** Oh, how I love making you kiddies confused.”

“Will you quit trolling us and just tell us already?!” I yelled from embarrassment. And I even blushed a little. I always hated how she kept doing that to us. Me especially.

_Just because I’m a rich girl, doesn’t mean I’m not that bright. I really hate these damn rich girl stereotypes._

“Oh, alright. I supposed we have enough time for a chat. Listen carefully, girls. It’s an important one.”

“Yes! Finally! Now I can finally know what’s up with this girl! And these thoughts will go away for good! _Oh, La-Ti-Da!_ ”

“Someone’s excited, meow.” Popoi said.

“Yes, indeed.” Ms. Accord said.

“I’ve never seen you so excited for someone other than yourself, Raffina.” Lidelle said.

…

…

“Q-Quit staring at me already! It’s getting uncomfortable.” I said while blushing a little.

“Oh, alright. So…about that new student. Yes, we are getting one. She just moved into town yesterday.” Ms. Accord said.

“Well, yeah. I know that. I didn’t follow that moving truck to the house just for the hell of it.”

“Really? Interesting.”

“ **Tch!** ”

_I know I’m gonna regret that later…_

“Anyway, her name’s Amitie. And starting today, she’ll be joining our little class.”

“Y’know, I’ve always wondered why we only have four students in our class.” Lidelle said.

“Well, it’s five now, meow.” Popoi said.

“Yeah, but…why is that?”

“Well…let’s just said you kiddies are special.”

“Special?” Lidelle and I asked.

Ms. Accord giggled as she got up and walked towards the door, still grinning as always.

“Well, that should be enough information for now. Come on, girls. Class begins in 5 minutes.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait a minute! I still got questions! How come she was crying yesterday when I saw her?!”

“Hmm…not sure. Maybe you should ask her yourself, Raffina.”

“Also, it’s not good to spy on people, meow.” Popoi added.

The duo then left the office and closed the door behind them. Leaving us with little to no clarity on what just happened.

“Well, that was a waste of time.” I sighed and felled backward on a chair in the room. Confused and frustrated as hell.

“Well, at least we now know her name.” Lidelle said as she came up and stood next to me. Not as frustrated, but just as confused.

“Oh, yeah. She did say her name. Amitie, was it? It’s a nice name, I guess.”

“Uh, Raffina…you’re blushing.”

“H-Huh?!” I then got out my pocket mirror and saw that Lidelle was right. I was blushing. And it was a very noticeable shade of red, as well. It actually took me by surprise a little. “W-Wait! Th-This isn’t what it looks like, I swear!”

“Now you’re blushing even more.”

“Wh-What?!” I then looked at the mirror again. And she was right again. “ **Damnit!** ”

“You know, you actually look really cute when you blush like that. Like **_really_** cute.”

…

…

“W-Wait…what?” I asked. Completely confused on what she just said.

“ **I-I-I’m sorry! I-I-I didn’t mean it like that! W-W-Well, maybe a little, but it just slipped out! A-A-And you look really cute, even when you’re not blushing! GAH! IT SLIPPED OUT AGAIN! I-I-I-I’M SO SORRY!** ”

I continued to look at Lidelle with a lot more confusion. What she said, more like **how** she said it…it shocked me. To the point where I just had to ask.

“L-Lidelle…a-are you gay?”

…

…

“W-Well…y-yeah. I am. Although only my mother knows. I’m kinda too afraid to come out to everyone else.”

“W-Wow. I-I never would’ve thought that you would like girls.”

“A-Are you going to stop being my friend because of that?”

“Wh-What?! No, Lidelle! That’s stupid! Why would **that** be my reason, if any at all?!”

“W-Well…I-I’m just asking. I-It’s…happened before.”

“Wait…you mean with Tarutaru?”

“I-I’m not sure about him, but people have stopped being friends with me because I would make them uncomfortable with my compliments towards them. Mainly other girls. Probably because they were starting to notice.”

Damn. People were avoiding Lidelle because she’s gay? I thought we as society moved passed this already. How the hell are we going backward at this point?

“Well, screw them, Lidelle. If they can’t accept you for who you are, then they’re not really your friends.” I said while holding Lidelle’s hand. She actually teared up a little. It must be the first time someone’s actually said these words to her. Now I was feeling really bad for her.

“Th-Thank you…Raffina. Y-You don’t know how long I’ve waited for someone to accept me. This really made my day.”

“You’re welcome, Lidelle. That’s what true best friends are for. Now we should probably get to class before we’re late. Wouldn’t make sense since we were just talking to Ms. Accord.”

“ ***giggle*** Yeah, you’re right.”

We both finally left our teacher’s oddly-spacious office and headed for our classroom. Locking the door behind us in the process.

 

When we got to the classroom Ms. Accord was nowhere to be found. Somehow we managed to beat her here, even though the distance from the office to the classroom is a simple straight line. The only people there were Klug (no surprise there), and Tarutaru, who for some reason (other than her sexual orientation) has been avoiding Lidelle recently. If it’s not that, then what is it? Normally, I wouldn’t care about something so petty. But since I became friends with Lidelle, I kinda wanna know what’s with him.

_Wow. Having a friend is really growing on me. I’m so caring now. Well…to one person, but it still counts._

 Lidelle went to sit at her desk and I went to mine. Unfortunately for me, my desk is right next to Klug’s. The same goody-two-shoe nuisance I fight with every damn day.

“Ah. Salutations, Raffina. Ready for another day of **NOT** being better than me? _Kyahahahaha!_ ”

**_Grr…_ ** _This boy, I swear…._

“Piss off, Klug. I’m in no mood to deal with you.”

“You say that every day, yet you keep yapping your mouth like a rabid ape. So predictable of you.”

“I go at it with you because you like to gossip about yourself like a dumb teenage girl on Twitter.”

Then, after I said that…something came to mind.

“Oh. You wouldn’t perhaps be a dumb teenage girl, would you? It would explain how you suck at anything physical.”

“ **Tch!** ” Klug reacted the way I thought he would.

_Ha! Got ya, you little twerp!_

“W-Well…w-why would I waste my time with something so barbaric? Brains always beat brawns. Everyone knows that. But of course, you didn’t. And why would you? You spend so much time playing around in the miniature jungle you have, you wild monkey.”

“ **Wild monkey?! Oh, you are going to PAY…** ”

“R-Raffina…” Lidelle said to me. And it’s a good thing she did. I didn’t want to be acting like this for whenever Amitie shows up.

“L-Like I said, I’m in no mood today.” I said after calming down a bit. Turning away from looking at Klug’s face.

“ Hmph. Of course, you’re not. After all, you _were_ almost run over this morning.”

I then turned back to him with complete and utter shock.

“ **Wh…What the hell?! How do _you_ know about that?!** ”

“Oh, I have my ways.” He chuckled a little after saying that. It’s stuff like that that really irritates me.

I thought that was the end of it. But apparently, Klug had more to say.

“You know, I was a little worried if you actually got hit or not. But now that I see you perfectly fine, I kinda wish you got some injury. That way, you won’t be here and the school would be peaceful for once.”

**_What the hell?! Did he just say that he wishes for me to get run over by a car?! The absolute NERVE of this asshole!_ **

“And to think, of all people, Lidelle would be the one to save you from an untimely death. The thought of a big, no ginormous gorilla like you to be rescued by such a weak, spineless fool like her! Both of you are just pathetic excuses for human beings! Never to be as great and wonderful as me! _Kyahahahaha!_ ”

At this point, I was furious, no **PISSED THE HELL OFFED** after hearing all of what that damn jerk had to say. For the first time since yesterday, I didn’t care about that blonde girl. My rage and anger were entirely focused on Klug. I wanted to punch him in his smug face so bad. And I was about to do it too…but then I took a quick glance at Lidelle, who looked like she was about to cry. I managed to calm down a bit and got up in Klug’s face to let him know I was serious.

“Listen, Klug. I don’t give a damn about how much you like to insult me and all that, but don’t you **DARE** bring Lidelle into any of your criticism spats, you hear me?! Messing with her is 10x worse than messing with me!!! And I’ll prove it if you **EVER** say anything bad about her again! Got it?”

“S-Since when did you care about what I said about Lidelle?!”

“ **Since now! Do you read me?! Or am I gonna have to explain it the physical way?!** ”

“ _Y-Y-Y-Yes! G-G-G-Got it…_ ” Klug whimpered as he was literally shaking in his seat. He’ll probably forget about this threat a couple days from now, but at least I got it through his thick skull now. That way I can easily remind him later if he oversteps his boundaries again.

The room fell silent shortly after. Lidelle was wiping away her tears and Tarutaru didn’t say or react much to what just happened. That’s actually the one thing normal about his weird behavior.

A minute or two had passed and we see Ms. Accord entering the classroom. Where she was the entire time I have no idea.

“Good morning, kiddies.”

“Good meowing.”

“Good morning, Ms. Accord.” We all said in a non-energetic tone of voice.

“Today I have a special announcement for you all to hear. We’re getting a new classmate starting today.”

I turned over to Lidelle and knew she had the same thoughts as I did.

_Here it is. It’s about time I finally meet this girl. And find out just what is with her._

“Come on in, meow.” Popoi said, turning his head towards the door.

The door opened and in came the girl that nearly got me killed this morning. The blonde girl with green eyes. Her eyes weren’t puffy anymore and her blonde hair covered her ears and part of her forehead.

Her outfit was kind of basic. A white jacket over a dark-grey shirt. She wore a pair of black sweatpants and white sneakers. Lastly was the one green bracelet on her left arm near the hand. It looked little big on her, and it was a bit out of place with the outfit she was wearing.

But that didn’t bother me at the moment. In fact, I didn’t notice **_any_** of the flaws she had (and she had a lot just by looking at her). I couldn’t stop staring at her, just like yesterday. I even felt my hearting beating fast again. The only time it would ever get this fast is when I’m exercising at home or school. Not when I’m sitting at my desk staring at a girl I don’t know.

But like I said, I couldn’t stop. Not for one second.

_So this is Amitie, huh? Wow. She’s so…so…so…_

“She’s **_really_** cute isn’t she, Raffina?” Lidelle whispered in my ear.

“Y-Yeah, she really is.” I said while blushing a little bit. But luckily Lidelle didn’t notice this time.

“Introduce yourself to the class, please.” Ms. Accord told the girl.

“S-Sure.” The girl stuttered a bit. She cleared her throat and proceeded to continue.

“M-My name is Amitie. I-I’ve recently moved here with my mom from another city. I-I hope we can all have a great year together.” She finished with a bow and we started clapping.

“ _Great…another girl. And she’s blonde, too. Yet another idiot for me to deal with._ ” Klug whispered to himself.

Or so he thought. The rest of us heard what he said. And I was about to start yelling again, when…

“Klug. Please see me after class.” Ms. Accord said to him.

“Wh-What?! B-But I have scheduled study session at the library!”

“Should’ve thought about that before you made that insult, meow.” Popoi said.

“ _Ugh…_ ” Klug whined a bit before slamming his head on his desk.

I wanted to laugh, but at the same time, I didn’t want to stay behind either. At least not with him.

“Anyway, welcome to our class, Amitie. You can sit in that empty desk next to Raffina.”

“O-Okay, Ms. Accord.” She said.

**_Crap!_ **

Amitie sat in the desk next to me and then Ms. Accord started her lesson. The entire time I felt my heart beating rapidly. I was a nervous wreck sitting next to her. I wanted this day to end already. Maybe I can fake an illness.

Someone, I managed to tough it out until the first break came along. Ms. Accord had something to take care of, so she left the room. Leaving us to do whatever we wanted until she came back. I figured it was a good time to talk to Amitie, but out of nowhere, she beat me to it.

“Hey, uh…Raffina was it?”

 “ **Gah!** ” I jumped up a little, startled at the first move made by her.

“Ah, s-sorry! I-I didn’t mean to scare you!”

“N-No, no, It’s not your fault. I-I’m okay, really.”

“Good. I’m glad.”

We both smiled at each other, but then Amitie came close to my face with a puzzled look on hers. I started blushing darker than before. But again, nobody noticed.

“Y-You know, Raffina…you look oddly familiar. Had we met before?”

“R-Really? Th-This is my first time seeing you. Y-You must be mistaking me for someone.” I said, trying to use my noble lady voice.

“You sure? Cause I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere before…”

“L-Like I said, y-you must be mistaking me for someone.”

“Hmm…” Amitie hummed to herself. Then she gestured me to come closer to her with her hand.

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep it a secret.” She whispered with a giggle.

“Y-You knew, huh?”

“Yeah. When I saw your face while coming in, I instantly recognized you.”

“S-Sorry for spying on you.”

“It’s okay, Raffina. I’m sure it was an accident. And plus, you did look kinda cute jumping out of that patch of grass like that.”

“ **C-Cute?!** ” The blushing on my face was so dark it was starting to become noticeable. Amitie started blushing too when she realized what she just said.

“I-I-I didn’t mean it like that! It’s just…”

“N-N-No, I get what you mean. It’s just…”

We both stared at each other a little bit then started laughing at our own misuse of words.

“Well, you two seem to be getting along.” I hear Lidelle say behind me.

“Yeah, thanks uh…”

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t introduce myself. My name’s Lidelle.”

“Nice to meet you, Lidelle.” Amitie replied cheerfully. “I hope the three of us can become great friends.”

Lidelle and I looked at each other for a bit, then looked back at Amitie with smiles on our faces.

“Same here, Amitie.” We both said.

The three of us continued to talk to each other until Ms. Accord came back into the room. We learned so much about each other. And I even have a few things in common with the two of them. I truly felt that this was the start of a beautiful friendship.


	7. Bonding Best Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was edited. As some things were either added or removed from the original version.

**Amitie’s POV**

 

And so, my first day of attending Primp Magic School has come and gone. And so far, I’m really having fun. Raffina and Lidelle are really good friends and they helped me a lot throughout the day. They even gave me a quick tour of the school during lunch. It included a gym, a music room, a cooking practice room, and a garden. And right now, as we were leaving the school, they were giving me some info on the other two classmates.

“So, that boy who gave out that insult on your first day is named Klug. He’s basically an annoying know-it-all that will brag about his genius in your face in the most jerkish way possible! It pisses me off so much!” Raffina said, sounding a bit angry.

“W-Wow…” Was all I could say.

“Raffina and Klug hate each other. They argue with each other pretty much every day. But…it can get…a little scary sometimes.” Lidelle said.

“B-But I’ll start working on keeping my cool now. It won’t be easy, though.”

“It’s okay, Raffina. I understand. I’ve, uh…h-had my fair share of bullies.” I said.

“Really?”

“Y-Yeah. In fact, this one bully was so bad, it’s the reason why I moved here. I-It…it was…” I felt like I was about to cry as I started remembering the dark memories of my past. And the other two girls noticed how sad I was getting.

“W-Wait! A-Amitie! Y-You don’t have to tell us if it hurts you so badly!” Raffina panicked.

“ ** _*sniff*_** _I-I don’t?_ ”

“No. Just know that If anyone bullies you in any way, I got your back, ‘kay?”

It completely shocked me what Raffina just said to me. Not even a day and I have someone to protect me. It made me feel warm and happy inside. Two feeling that I’ve recently regained, and have to get used to again.

“ _Th…Thanks, Raffina._ ”

“No problem, Amitie. I’m only doing what friends do. And the same thing goes for you too, Lidelle.”

“R-Right. Th-Thanks again, Raffina.” Lidelle replied.

“Wait. You get bullied too, Lidelle? What for?” I asked her.

I then saw her blush with embarrassment as she started rubbing her right arm and looked away from us.

“I-It is too personal? I-I’m sorry if it is.” Now I was the one panicking.

“N-No. I-It really isn’t. I-It’s just…” Lidelle did a small sigh before continuing on. “…I-I’m not getting bullied. M-More like…ignored.”

“Ignored?”

“Y-You see…I-I’m…g-g-gay.”

“Whoa. Really?”

“It’s true. I found out this morning.” Raffina added.

"Yeah. And I feel like that's the reason people have been avoiding me." Lidelle said. Going into silence afterward.

…

“Well, forget them!” I shouted.

“H-Huh?”

“Lidelle. If they can’t accept you for who you really are, then they’re terrible friends.”

“Right? That’s exactly what I told her this morning.” Raffina said.

“W-Wow. T-Two in one day. I thought that I could never be this lucky.”

Lidelle then suddenly grabbed the both of us and help us in a deep hug that felt like she’s been holding out for so long.

“ **Amitie! Raffina! Thank you both! You two are the best friends I’ve ever had!** ”

Neither one of us said anything and just accepted the hug that our best friend was giving us.

 

As the three us of finally made it outside the school, we immediately noticed how colder the weather had gotten since this morning. Raffina and I were bundled up in our coats. But then we looked at Lidelle. And I finally noticed the outfit she was wearing.

“Uh…Lidelle. You’re not cold in that?” I asked.

“No, not really.” Lidelle answered.

“How?” Raffina asked while looking at her phone. “It’s like 5°C out here.”

(41°F)

“I just don’t get cold when wearing these type of outfits. Much like how I don’t get hot when I wear sweaters during the summer.”

“You wear sweaters **_during_** the summer?!” We both asked in shock.

“Yeah, why not? I feel just fine doing it.”

“Unbelievable.”

_I wish I could withstand such weather. Lidelle must be a god._

“Geez, Lidelle. Learning all this stuff about you is like I’m first meeting you for the first time.” Raffina said.

“I could say the same thing about you, Raffina. We’ve known each other since kindergarten yet today I saw you cry for the first time.”

“ **Tch!** ” We then saw Raffina blushing a little. “W-Well…th-that’s because I was stressed out earlier! P-Probably won’t happen again! I’m too elegant to cry! _Oh, La-Ti-Da!_ ”

“La-Ti-Da? What the heck does that mean?” I asked. Raffina then started blushing more.

“U-Uh…w-well…i-it’s more like a weird phrase of mine. I can’t really explain it. It’s just something I do a lot.”

“ ** _*giggle*_** I see.”

“Wh-What’s so funny?”

“Nothing bad. It’s just it’s really cute to see you blush like that.”

“C-Cute?!”

“I know, right? Raffina rarely blushes. So to see her do it so many times today is just so irresistible.” Lidelle added.

“ **C-Cut it out, you two!** ” Raffina yelled. Her face was now redder than before.

“Now you’re even cuter, Raffina! It’s getting harder to resist how cute you are! It’s too much!”

“ ** _Lidelle!_** ” Raffina whined.

As that conversation was going on, an idea came to my mind. It was probably a for us to get to know each other bit better. Although, it might be a bit soon.

“Hey, guys. I got an idea. How’s about we have a sleepover?”

“Huh? A sleepover?” Both girls asked.

“I mean, it could help us get to know each other more. Best friends need to know as much as possible about each other, right?”

“Yeah. That’s true.” Lidelle said. “Okay! I’m in!”

“Yay!” I cheered while giving her a hug.

“What about you, Raffina?” Lidelle asked her.

“Uh…well, I don’t know. This, well uh…this will be my first sleepover.”

“Really? You’re first one?” I asked. Raffina then responded with only a simple nod.

“Well don’t worry, Raffina. We’ll make sure that your first sleepover will be the best one you’ve ever had. Right, Lidelle?”

“Yep. You won’t regret it, Raffina.” Lidelle said.

“Th-Thanks, guys. I’ll be sure to have fun then.”

“Yay!” Lidelle and I cheered as we both hugged Raffina with glee.

I wasn’t sure how Lidelle was feeling about this, but for me, for some strange reason, I was feeling…happy. Like, **REALLY** happy. I wasn't sure if it was because I was having a sleepover on the day I first gained two friends, or the fact that Raffina was coming to said sleepover. But hugging her right now. It was the best feeling I've had in a while. I didn't want to let go.

“ _H-Hey, you two! L-Let go already! I-It’s getting tight!_ ”

But I eventually had to. As Raffina was getting uncomfortable.

“Sorry.” We both said as we finally let her go. When we did, however, we saw that she was blushing again. We wanted to point it out, but she stopped us before we even said a word. Which was a huge bummer.

“So what time should we come over, Amitie?” Raffina asked.

I then grew a blank look on my face.

…

“Uh…what?”

“We are having it at your house, right?”

“W-Wait, hold on! When did we agree on this?!”

“Amitie. It was your idea.” Lidelle said. “And whoever makes the idea of a sleepover has to host it.”

“Huh?!”

“It’s the same thing when I suggest having parties at my house. It’s just common courtesy.” Raffina added.

_Common courtesy?! How come I’ve never heard of such a rule?!_

“W-Well…okay, fine. We’ll have it at my house.” I finally gave in.

“Alright. And don’t worry about giving directions. I can show Lidelle where it is.”

“W-Wait. You memorized where my house is from just looking at it from a bush?”

“W-Well, I mean I pass by it a lot. A-And you living there makes it easier for me to remember, you know?” Raffina started blushing again.

“O-Oh. I-I see.” Now I was blushing for making such accusations.

“So, we’ll come by around…6:00?”

“Sounds good to me.” Lidelle said. “Can’t wait to see your house, Amitie.”

_Crap! The house! I completely forgot! I gotta tell them…_

“Uh, guys. There’s something you should know about my house.” I said nervously.

“What about it?” Raffina asked.

“W-Well…it’s just that…I don’t exactly have any…“extra stuff” for a sleepover.”

“What, you mean futons? Don’t worry, we’ll bring our own.” Lidelle added.

This was getting harder to explain by the minute.

“Well…no. I-It’s not just that.”

Raffina and Lidelle looked completely confused right now. They really didn’t get where I was getting at.

“I also don’t have a room. Or a couch. Or a TV. Or any food.” I said in short, sweet, and to the point sentences.

The two girls just looked at each other for a little bit, then turned to face me.

“Hehhehheh…”  I laughed nervously.

“Amitie…” Raffina said with a sigh.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Lidelle asked with deep concern.

“Well, y-you see…" I stuttered a bit. But then I regained the courage to continue on. "My mom and I recently went through a bad event. So when we moved here, we threw away all of our old furniture. And as of right now we can’t any new furniture. So all we got are a few clothes, our toothbrushes, two futons, and a bunch of instant ramen.”

“Instant ramen?” They both asked.

“My mom loves eating them. It’s her favorite thing to eat.”

“ _Oh._ ”

There was dead silence between the three of us. I had no idea what they were thinking, which made my heart pounding in fear.

“Well…” Raffina said after a half minute of silence.

“Well, what?” I asked.

“I’ll just have to pitch in a little to make this sleepover weekend even more special! _Oh, La-Ti-Da!_ ”

“Huh? Pitch in?”

“Oh right, Raffina. You can probably fix that problem, right?” Lidelle asked.

“Yep! Sure can, Lidelle!”

“Wait, what is going on here? What are you guys talking about?” I was all sorts of confused.

All Raffina and Liddle did was smile and wink at me. Saying:

“It’s a secret.”

 Before running off away from me. Telling me they’ll see me tonight for the sleepover. I have no idea what they’re planning all of a sudden. And I didn’t have the slightest guess for it, either.

“Guess I better tell Mom that we’re hosting a sleepover.” I said to myself as I continued my walk home.

 

When I got finally got home, I saw Mom sitting on her futon working on her computer. Possibly working on her book. Still can’t believe that she used to write light novels back in high school. It’s something I wouldn’t expect from her.

“Hey, Mom. I’m home.” I said.

“Oh, hey Ami. How was your first day of school?”

“It was super great! I had so much fun here! I already made two new friends and we’re having a sleepover! Super excited!”

“Really now? If that’s the case, why didn’t you just go with them?”

At that point, I had a sweatdrop moment.

“ _Hehhehheh…_ ”

“Hehhehheh, what?” Already, Mom didn’t look amused.

“Well…th-the sleepover was kinda my idea. And I kinda didn’t know about this rule about hosting events that you come up with. So now, they’re coming here for the sleepover.”

“What?!”

“A-And I kinda told them we don’t have any stuff. So now they went off to do who knows what.”

“Ami…”

“Well, what was I supposed to do? I didn’t want to lie to them.”

“I get that, but…”

“And besides, they said it was a surprise and for me to wait until they get here tonight.”

“A surprise, huh?”

“Yep. And I bet it’s going to be so super-duper!”

Mom didn’t say much of anything for a little while. Which had me a bit worried.

“You’re not mad, are you?” I asked.

“No, Ami. I’m not mad. Just don’t go spilling our secrets to the entire town. Not everyone needs to know about them.”

“Well, technically…they don’t know it completely. All I said was it was a bad event and they took it without question.”

“Huh. I see. But still, keep it to yourself.”

“Alright.”

“And besides, I wanna see what this “super-duper surprise” of theirs is.”

“The air quotes weren’t necessary, Mom.” I sounded insulted.

“Oh, I know.” Mom said with a cheeky grin.

“Meanie.”

“Silly.”

_Guess that was payback from earlier._

“Anyway, I going to take a bath. If my friends get here, could you let them in?”

“Yeah, sure Ami.” Mom said as she went back to work on her computer.

“Thanks, Mom.”

I grabbed whatever clothes I could use for pajamas and went in the bathroom to take a bath. I was so excited for this sleepover to begin. It was going to be super wicked!

…

_Great. Now I’m coming up with weird phrases._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The original continues its reboot! I’ll tell ya, writing this again brings back memories writing this for the first time almost a year ago. At the time, I didn’t think that two sequels would follow after this one. Just wanted to thank you all again for the support for this series. Feel free to review, favorite, and/or follow the story. Thanks for reading. Later.


	8. Raffina's First Sleepover

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *This chapter was edited. As some things were either added or removed from the original version.*

**Raffina’s POV**

 

_W-Wow. M-My first sleepover. W-With actual friends. **BEST** friends, even. I-I can’t believe this is actually happening. I know I’ve said that I was “too damn elegant” for friends._

_B-But…_

_…With Lidelle saving my life and meeting Amitie for the first time, I feel like…_

_Like…_

_Like a huge hole in my heart has been patched up._

_…_

_…_

Oh, God. I’m getting **WAY** too emotional. Like one of those cheesy 80’s shows that teaches you a life lesson at the end of every episode. That honestly annoyed me to no end.

Anyway, I had just made it home after Lidelle and I left Amitie hanging without explaining what exactly that I’m going to do for her. Yes, I felt bad for basically ditching her in the middle of the block like that. But I was positive it will be all worth it.

Besides, when did anything I planned ever go wrong? _Oh, La-Ti-Da!_

“I’m home!” I yelled as I walked inside my family’s mansion. Normally, I would get some kind of response from somebody here. But this time, I didn’t get anything like that.

And I was starting to get some thoughts on why that is.

“Hello?!” I yelled again.

No response.

“I said I’m home!”

Nothing.

“ **Yo! Amira!** ”

Dead silent.

“ ** _*sigh*_** Goddamn it.” I said to myself as I went looking for the one person who’s normally here at this time.

And after 10 minutes of searching, I found said person in the lounge area. Laying on the couch fast asleep with her headphones on. No doubt blasting in each ear.

This clearly got me angry. Not just because she was sleeping this whole time, but the fact that I passed this room like 3 times before and never noticed her until now. How does that even happen?!

“Hey. Amira. Wake up.” I said while shaking her body as hard as I can.

“ _H-Huh?_ ” Amira woke up and saw me standing over her. “Oh. Hey, Sis. Didn’t know you were home.”

“Of course, you didn’t. You’re all the way in the back of the mansion in a deep sleep with music blasting in your ears. You might as well enclose yourself in a metal box while you’re at it.” I said, sounding annoyed.

“Geez. I’m sorry, alright? I get tired from doing all that crap at school **_AND_** run the shop. Give me a break.”

“Oh, boo-hoo. I feel so sorry for you. Want me to play a sad song on the world’s smallest violin or something?”

“Oh, that was **_real_** ly funny, Raffina." Amira said sarcastically. Clearly insulted by that last statement.

I should probably explain who it is I’m insulting right now, huh? Well, this is my older sister Amira. She's 21-years-old and studying fashion at the community college here. We look similar to each other, both having pink hair and light-blue eyes. But Amira's hair is longer and straighter than mine. And like all little sisters should, I do love and admire her.

 **BUT…** she’s extremely lazy and immature. I always have to fix whatever mess she gets herself (or worse, the whole family) into. It’s a huge annoyance, but she’s my sister. So I can’t really stay mad at her like how I am with Klug. But if there’s one thing we could possibly relate on…is that we’re both elegant, graceful, and powerful!

It’s just I’m a little more mature.

“So, where’s Lily? Did she leave?” I asked.

“Uh…I think. I was listening to my music when she left.”

“ ** _*sigh*_** Of course, you were.” I facepalmed.

“I’m home!” We heard a voice coming from the front of the mansion.

“In here, Lily!” I said.

Lily is our maid that also lives with us. She’s been taking care of us ever since we were little due to our parents always traveling for…who knows what. She herself is a beautiful woman who I guess is around the same age as Ms. Accord (however old she is). She has long, brown hair, brown eyes, and a slim body.

She’s a really nice and caring person. But she does have that mean side of her. A side that Amira and I tend to not go to.

“Geez, there you two are. Why are you all the way in the back of the mansion?” Lily asked as she entered the lounge area. Seemingly carrying a bag of groceries.

“Not sure. Ask Amira. I found her here.” I answered.

“It’s a really comfy couch, okay?” Amira said. “When I came home, I plopped myself onto this couch and fell asleep from being so tired.”

“Miss Amira. You have a bed. In your room.”

“ _But it’s too far, Lily._ ”

“It’s literally around the corner.” I added.

“ _It’s “around the corner” too far, Sis._ ”

Lily and I just sighed out of annoyance.

“Look, Amira. I don’t have time to deal with your laziness today. I have somewhere to go and I need to pack a few things.”

“Somewhere to go? Where are you going, Miss Raffina?” Lily asked.

“I’m going to a sleepover with my friends at one of their houses.”

That’s when both Lily and Amira stared at me with complete and utter shock.

“Why are you two staring at me like that?” I asked.

“No reason.” Lily said. “It’s just…”

“Holy crap, you got friends?”

“ **Hey!** ” I felt insulted.

“Miss Amira!”

“What? One of us had to ask.” Amira said with a shrug.

“ **Honestly! I can’t believe you two got used to me not having friends!** ”

“Well, Miss Raffina. You did say multiple time before that you’re “ _too damn elegant to be friends with any of these plebs._ ”. We eventually just took you seriously.

“But now that you have some, you’re starting to look like a hypocrite.” Amira added.

“W-Well…p-people change, alright? Even someone like me can have friends.”

“If you say so, Sis.”

“If you say so, Miss Raffina.”

_They still don’t believe me, do they?_

“Now, if you excuse me, I have to go pack a bag.” I said as I headed out the room. But when I got to the doorway, I remembered something that I wanted to do. And I needed a little help.

“Hey, Lily. Do you think I could get just a _little_ extra for my allowance?”

“Seriously? You already get ¥165,501 a week. Why do you need more?”

($1500)

“Well…the friend whose house that I’m sleeping over with doesn’t really have…well, let’s just say “much”. I just want to help her out a little.”

“You? Helping people?”

“Who are you and what have you done to my little sister?” Amira asked.

“Geez, you two! It’s like you think that I can’t change!”

“ _Well…_ ” They both said.

“You know what, just forget it. I’m good with the money I have now.” I said as I finally left the room. I’ll just have to prove to them that I can be nice to other people **AND** have friends, too.

Not now. But sooner or later.

 

After being insulted by my sister and my maid, I went to my room and packed a bag with some clothes, my toothbrush, some stuff for my hair, and other miscellaneous things. When I was done with that, I had to think of something to give to Amitie. And now counting the money I have leftover, I don't have as much as I thought I had.

“ _Damn. I knew that extra dress was a bit pricey. What do I do now?_ ”

As I starting looking around my room, digging through the back of my walk-in closet, I came across an old box that gathered a ton of dust over time. I cleared some of it to the point where I was able to see the front of it.

Printed on the box was…

" _Super Famicom_ …The hell is this thing? I don't remember getting this."

Then an idea came to me. A great one, in fact.

“Ah-ha! I’ll just give this to Amitie! I may have no use for whatever this thing is, but I’m sure she’ll find a way! _Oh, La-Ti-Da!_ ”

I placed the box inside my bag and carried it out of my room and through the mansion until I reached the dining room where Amira and Lily were.

“I’m leaving.” I said. “I’ll be back on Sunday.”

“Alright, Miss Raffina.” Lily said.

“Have fun with these friends that you somehow got, Sis.” Amira said.

“ _I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that._ ” I said. Insulted once again as I headed out the front door.

 

I remember telling Lidelle that we would meet up at the intersection between our houses and we would walk to Amitie's together since she hasn't seen her house yet.

About 10 minutes after I left home, I met up with Lidelle and we began walking together. She was still wearing the clothes from earlier. And with it being colder in the evenings this time of year, it blew my mind even more that she isn’t the tiniest bit cold while wearing something like that.

_Wow. Lidelle’s a lot bolder with fashion than I thought._

“So did you get anything for Amitie?” Lidelle asked. “I couldn’t do much in the last minute. So I’ll offer to cook breakfast tomorrow.”

“Wait, you can cook?” I asked in shock.

“Yeah. Who do you think made all those dishes during the school-wide Christmas party?”

“That was **YOU?!** ”

“Sure was. Delicious, wasn’t it?”

“Holy crap. Those were the best meals I’ve ever eaten. My mouth watered **_while_** I was eating it.”

“ ** _*giggle*_** Thank you, Raffina.” Lidelle looked really happy that someone complimented her on her cooking. And I wasn’t lying when I said all that, either. It was so damn good! I wish I had some right now.

“So, what did you get her?” Lidelle asked.

“Oh, I just got her this weird thing that I found in my closet. I have no idea what it is. So maybe she can use it.”

“That’s terrible gift-giving.”

“Well, I would’ve gone and bought something…but I spent all my money.”

“On what?”

“Clothes, shoes, jewelry, make-up, **_other_** stuff that girls our age need.”

“Wait, when you say “ ** _other_** stuff”, do you mean… ** _those_** stuff?”

“Yeah. **_Those_** stuff.”

We both sighed as we began thinking what **_those_** stuff include.

“Being a teenage girl sucks.” Lidelle said.

“Yeah. Definitely. Let’s try not to think of **_those_** things tonight. Agree?”

“Agree.”

 

After another block or two, we reached Amitie’s house and were standing in front of the front door. And while I was revamping memories of how I first saw the blonde girl, Lidelle had a skeptical look on her face.

“Uh…Raffina. Isn’t this the house that been abandoned for 10 years?” she asked.

“Yeah.” I answered. “What about it?”

“Well, it’s just that…with a house that’s been empty for nearly a decade, it has to be absolutely filthy, don’t you think?”

I thought about it and realized that she was right. The house must be extremely dirty with it being empty for that long.

“Yeah…I never thought of that. Poor Amitie.”

“Was this the only vacant house?”

“Possibly. I guess they were just out of luck when moving here.”

“Yeah, looks like it.”

As I said that, something came to mind. A really odd question that I never bothered asking myself until now.

“Hey, Lidelle. Do you think there’s a reason why Amitie moved here during the second half of school?”

“Huh? What do you mean?” Lidelle had a puzzled look on her face.

“Well, it’s just…when I first saw Amitie, her eyes were really swollen and red. Like she was crying the whole way here. It kinda has me concerned.”

“Concerned? Do you think something bad happened to her?” Lidelle sounded worried. I then paused for a moment, then shook my head.

“N-No. Never mind. Forget I said anything.”

“R-Raffina…”

“Come on. I’m fine, really.”

“Well…If you say so.” Lidelle wasn’t really sure about my current mood. But she didn’t question it anymore as I knocked on the front door and we waited for Amitie to answer.

When the door opened though, the person standing in front of us wasn’t Amitie. It was the older girl that I remember seeing. Possibly her sister. She was wearing a pink t-shirt and some black sweatpants with a white skull on the left pants leg. Her hair was longer than Amitie’s, but they both had the same mesmerizing green eyes. I couldn’t stop staring. Not only were those eyes so beautiful, but I felt like they hold a story of some kind.

“Oh. You two must be Ami’s friends. Come in, come in. She just got out the bath.” Said the girl.

Lidelle and I turned to look at each other with confusing looks on our faces then faced the girl again.

“Uh…Ami?” We both said in unison.

“Oh sorry. That’s just a nickname I gave her. You can call her that if you want. Betcha she won’t mind.”

“Oh, well…thank you for letting us stay here for the weekend, ma’am.” I said.

“Y-Yes, thank you, ma’am.” Lidelle said with an added bow.

"Aw, don't mention it." The older girl replied, waving her hands side by side in a frantic manner.

The older girl led us inside the house and, just as Lidelle and I thought, it was dirty to the extent. There were dust and cobwebs all over the place. Luckily the cobwebs didn't have any spiders on them. The kitchen cabinets were nearly off their hinges. And the sink had what looked like rust but smelled like mold all around it. The backyard had grass so tall, I wouldn’t be surprised if a few Onion Pixies were living there.

_Especially that damn original one._

We were brought into what we think is the living room where the older girl sat on one of the two futons while we sat on our bags.

“Sorry about the mess.” The girl spoke up. “We were going to clean up a little, but then Ami told me about this sleepover not to long ago and I figure you girls would rather be having fun than to clean.”

"Ah well, about that…" I was about to explain something, but a familiar voice interrupted me.

“Hey, guys!  You’re here!” Amitie said as she walked in the living space. She was wearing a white t-shirt and grey shorts, and her hair was covering part of her face from being wet.

“Hi, Amitie!” We were happy to see her even though we just saw each other about an hour ago.

“So, what were you guys talking about?” Amitie asked as she sat on the other futon joining our conversation.

“Well…” I said. “We were going to explain something with your sister about the condition of your house, but then you…”

 I then stopped once I noticed the confusing looks on Amitie and the older girl’s faces. I felt like I made a huge mistake.

“Sister?” They asked.

“Isn’t this your sister?”

 The older girl then started laughing.

“Aw. I’m flattered that you think that. But I’m actually Ami’s mother.” She said.

“ **H…HER MOTHER?!?** " Lidelle and I both yelled in shock.

“Geez, guys. Is it **_that_** much of a shock?” Amitie got a little annoyed.

“Sorry, Amitie. It’s just that she looks so young.” I apologetically said.

“Yeah. I thought she was 18 or something.” Lidelle added.

“ ** _*giggle*_** Aw, thanks. I get that a lot.” Amitie’s mom said with one eye closed and while holding a peace sign.

“Mom…stop.” Amitie said with an embarrassingly annoyed look on her face.

“Well, sorry for the misunderstanding, Ms. Amitie’s Mom.” Lidelle said.

“Come on. You don’t have to call me that. Just call me Melody.”

“ ** _Melody?!_** " This time, all three of us yelled in shock.

“Yep. That’s my name.”

“How come you’re **_now_ ** telling me what your first name is?” Amitie asked Melody.

“You never asked, Ami.”

“I feel like that should be like the second most important thing I should know about my own mother.”

“Really? What’s number one then?”

“Really, Mom? We’re doing this again?”

“I’m just screwing with you, Ami.”

Amitie then sighed while facepalming her entire face.

_Wow. Amitie’s mom reminds me a lot of Amira. I really hope those two don’t ever meet._

“So, anyway…are these the friends you were talking about?”

“Yep. Sure are.”

“My name’s Raffina.” I said.

“My name’s Lidelle. Nice to meet you, Melody.” Lidelle said with a bow.

“Such nice girls. _Guess there still are nice people out in the world…_ ”

“Huh?” We both were confused.

“ _Mom!_ ” Amitie whispered to her mom while nudging her shoulder. “Ah, it’s nothing. You guys wanna use the bath? I’ll tell ya…despite how the rest of the house looks, it’s pretty clean.”

“Uh…okay.” Lidelle answered.

“I could use a bath, anyway.” I added.

_What was that all about? She guesses that there are still nice people out in the world? Now I’m really convinced that something happened. But what? Should I ask?_

_…_

_M-Maybe not now…_

 

Soon after the introductions, Lidelle and I both took our baths changed into our Pajamas. Lidelle had on a green tee and a pair of green shorts. Now I was really starting to notice how much she loves that color. I had on one of my elegant pink nightgowns. It looked really cute on me…

…And it was expensive. That’s probably why I’m out of money right now.

“So what were these secrets that you two kept me in the dark about?” Amitie asked.

“Well…” Lidelle started off. “I couldn’t get anything due to it being last minute. So I would like to offer myself to cook breakfast tomorrow.”

“Wh-What?!” Melody reacted. “C-Come on. Th-That’s not really necessary. I mean you’re our guests.”

“Aw, come on, Mom. Why not? It’s a free breakfast.” Amitie said.

“Plus, Lidelle’s a really good cook. Her food is super good.” I added.

“Really now?” Melody still a bit unsure about the idea of having a house guest cook food for her. But after the three of us convinced her enough, she eventually gave in.

“ ** _*sigh*_** Alright.” She said.

“Thank you, Melody. I promise you’ll enjoy every meal.” Lidelle said.

“Uh…don’t you mean every **_bite_**?” I asked.

“Well…you could say that.”

We didn’t get what she meant by that, so we just left it alone. For now.

“So what did you get me, Raffina?” Amitie asked.

“Uh, well…I found this thing in my closest earlier and I had no idea what it is. Figured that you could use it.” I started digging through my bag and brought the box out to show everyone.

I then noticed that not only Amitie’s eyes lit up with joy, but Lidelle’s did too. I was starting to think that they know what this thing is.

“ **OH MY GOD!** **IS THAT A SUPER FAMICOM?!** ” Amitie shouted.

“ **NO WAY! IT REALLY IS ONE! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!!!** ” Lidelle shouted.

And I was right.

“So you two know what this thing is?” I asked.

“ **This thing?!** ” Amitie sounded insulted. “ **Raffina, this is one of the greatest video game systems of all time!** ”

“ **They’ve stopped making these years ago and the ones online are super expensive.** ” Lidelle added.

“Huh. Interesting.”

“ **Look, Mom! I got one! I finally got a Super Famicom!** ”

“Yes, Ami. I see. Now you can quit bugging me to get you one.” Melody replied.

“ **Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, RAFFINA!!! THIS IS THE BEST GIFT EVER!!!** ” Amitie continued cheering as she suddenly started hugging me.

I then felt my heart beating rapidly. It’s only been a day since I met this girl and she’s hugging me out of pure excitement.

And to be honest, this hug made me really excited.

I slowly wrapped my arms around her mid-waist. Her skin was so soft and smooth. I had strong urges to rub her back, but I resisted them all. Her hair smelled like a sweet berry blend of a cake made fresh out the oven. The relaxing feel of her bare neck touching mine, the aroma of her hair from the shampoo she clearly used. I don't know why, but I feel like I'm in everlasting heaven.

_S-So this…this is what it feels like. To make someone else happy. It…it feels good. Really good, actually. I don't know why I haven't done this earlier. I was clearly missing out._

“Y-You’re welcome…A-Amitie.” I said in a nervous and embarrassed state.

After we ate dinner (Amitie wasn’t kidding when she said that all they had was instant ramen), Amitie and Lidelle showed me what this Super Famicom thing was. It apparently had a bunch of games already on it. And it made the two girls even happier.

“ **Oh my God! It’s a Super Famicom Classic!** ” Amitie cheered.

“ **These sold out almost immediately last year! I can’t believe we’re actually about to play on it!** ” Lidelle cheered as well.

_Last year? Did I seriously buy this thing and not remember doing so?_

“Well, I’m glad you two like it.” I said.

Soon after that (and by “soon”, I mean like 3 hours), we decided to call it a night. We each said our goodnights to each other and went to sleep.

Well…three of us did.

I was up for an extra 20 minutes waiting for my heart to beat at a normal pace. As I was still a bit too happy from that hug Amitie gave me earlier. But when I thought it was finally okay for me to sleep, I got blindsided.

I felt Amitie wrap her hands around my waist and started to cuddle against me. My heart was beating triple time! I didn’t know what to do! Do I wake her up?!

But then all of a sudden, I started hearing Amitie talk in her sleep.

“ _Mmmm, Raffina…_ ”

“ _Sh-She said my name…_ ” I whispered to myself.

“ _Th-Thank you…Raffina…_ ” I then felt her grip get even tighter.

My heart subsided back to a normal pace after hearing that. And I grew a small but peaceful smile on my face.

“ ** _*giggle*_** _You’re welcome…Amitie._ ”

With those as my last words of the day, I closed my eyes and decided to finally get some sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to move Lily to be debuted here instead of Tsu. I'll have to edit the chapter she first appeared in at a later date. Feel free to review, favorite, and/or follow the story. Thanks for reading. Later.


	9. Egg-Scented Awkwardness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *This chapter was edited. As some things were either added or removed from the original version.*

**Amitie’s POV**

It was the next morning and it already started off embarrassing. When I woke up I realized I was cuddling up against Raffina. It took me by surprise because I didn’t even realize it…

…until Raffina woke me up.

I kept apologizing to her…and meant it every time, too. She accepted every “I’m sorry” that came out of my mouth. But I can tell she was embarrassed as well. With how she was blushing throughout the whole thing.

“Well. That was an interesting thing to wake up to.” Lidelle said.

“Yeah, Ami. I didn’t know you were a cuddler.” Mom added.

“ **I-I’m not a cuddler!** ” I yelled. “I-I really don’t know how that happened. Neither do I know why.”

“Must’ve been a **_really_** nice dream you had.”

**_The hell does she mean by that?!_ **

“You know, they say that sometimes a dream can represent something that you really want in real life.” Lidelle said. “Maybe your dream meant something, Amitie.”

“Yeah…I guess.”

_But if it does, then what? I was cuddling Raffina last night…so maybe it’s something to do with her?_

**_*sigh*_ ** _I rather not think about it right now._

“So you said that you were going to make us breakfast, Lidelle?” I asked.

“Yeah. And I really don’t mind, either. I really love to cook. Just as much as I love to eat.”

“And, uh…how much **_do_** you love to eat?” Raffina asked.

“Well…if I have to put it on a scale of 1 to 10, I’d say…100.”

“ **Th-That’s not even within range!** ”

“I know. I just love eating.”

The rest of us looked at her with mild looks of shock.

_Whoa. According to her, she eats a lot. Yet, she has such a tiny fit body…what’s her secret?_

“Well, anyway…” She continued. “I looked around the kitchen, and it looks like you guys didn’t buy groceries yet.”

“Yeah, we’re kinda tight with money right now. Can’t really afford much.” Mom said.

“That’s why we’ve been eating instant ramen since we moved here.” I added.

“Now that I think about it, we don’t have any cleaning supplies, either. So we can’t even clean this dump of a house.”

“Oh, yeah.” I sounded sad.

 

**Raffina’s POV**

 

_Aw, geez. Poor Amitie. Living in a dirty house with nothing to eat but instant ramen. I feel bad for her. I want to help, but I don’t have much money to spare…_

_…_

_…W-Well. N-Now that I think about it…I-I kinda do._

I went digging in my bag to find the pants I was wearing yesterday. Inside one of the pockets was my wallet. And inside of there…was a credit card that I was giving to right before my parents left. Lily had told me to only use it for emergencies and not for the multiple shopping sprees I tend to do.

Now I admit, I’ve used it for a few non-emergency-related stuff in the past. But luckily, Lily doesn’t know about them. I’m not sure how much money is on this thing. But knowing my family’s lifestyle, it’s probably a lot.

_It should be okay, right?_

“Uh…hey, guys.”

“Yeah, Raffina? What’s up?” Amitie asked.

“Well…I’ve got some money on this credit card right here. Maybe you can use it to…I don’t know, get stuff for breakfast or something…”

“ **R-Really?! Y-You really mean that?!** ”

“I mean, I guess. I am pretty hungry.”

“I-I don’t think that’s necessary, Raffina.” Melody said. “But thanks, though.”

“ **Wh-What?! Come on, Mom! Someone’s willing to buy us groceries!** ”

“Yeah. But that **_someone_** is a 16-year-old girl. People are going to start rumors about me.”

_I see now. She’s worried that people will think she’s a bad mother._

“How about this, then. You guys can take the card and go buy what you need. And then you pay with the card yourselves.”

“R-Really?”

“Sure. I really don’t mind at all.”

Melody looked at me with a look of complete shock for a bit before finally taking the credit card out from my hands.

“W-Wow. Th-Thank you, Raffina. Th-This is…th-the nicest thing anyone’s done to us in a while.”

“Huh? The nicest in a while?” Lidelle and I asked.

“U-Uh, that was nothing! I-I was just saying nonsense! R-Right, Ami?!”

“Y-Yeah! M-Mom tends to say random stuff a lot! I-It’s a habit of hers!” Amitie said in the same panicky voice as her mother.

“Um…okay?” We both thought of the way their acting to be kinda weird. But in the end, we decided to just let it go.

For now, at least.

 

**Amitie’s POV**

 

Soon after that, Mom went to the store to buy some food and cleaning supplies. Lidelle offered to go with her so she can show her where the store is. So they both ended up going. Leaving me alone with Raffina.

The house was…quiet after they left. Well…more like “dead silent” from the sudden awkwardness that was building inside me. I was still feeling bad for cuddling Raffina in my sleep. And being alone with her right now is making me a nervous wreck. I’m even too nervous to talk to her. Let alone move an inch.

…

B-But…we can’t just sit here in silence the entire time, now can we?

**_*sigh*_ ** _Here I go…_

“Uh…h-hey. R-Raffina?” I broke the silence.

 “Yeah, Amitie?” Raffina asked.

“W-Well…I-I’m sorry for snuggling up against you last night. It was an accident, I swear.”

“O-Oh...Th-That.” Now Raffina was blushing a little from possibly remembering that event from earlier.

_Aw, fiddlesticks! Nice going, idiot!_

“N-No need to apologize. I’m not mad or anything. I mean, you were asleep, after all.”

“Y-Yeah. Right.”

“ _And, uh…besides…I-I, uh…r-really enjoyed it…_ ” 

“Huh?”

“ **N-Nothing! I-I didn’t say anything! Promise!** ”

“ **O-Okay! I believe you!** ” I shouted back in shock.

…

…

“S…Sorry for yelling.” Raffina said silently.

“I-It’s okay. Really.”

_I could’ve sworn Raffina whispered something just now, but I’ll let it go for now. Don’t want to make this moment more awkward._

“A-Anyway…so how far is the store from here?” I asked.

“Well, you’ll have to go the plaza to get there. Which is where all the other stores are.”

“Other stores? Like what?”

“Well, there’s this clothing store everybody goes to. But the owner there can be a little…opinionated.”

“Opinionated?”

“He likes to force his fashion sense onto everyone else. And most of the time the outfits he gives out are tacky and don’t even match.”

“Aw, geez.”

“Yeah. It's that bad. But there are some instances where the outfit he picks out works out.”

“I see. What else is there?”

“Just you’re standard stuff. A couple restaurants, a park, tiny shops. Oh, and there’s this **_really_** cute jewelry store that sells all kinds of necklaces and earrings.”

“Really?!”

“Yeah. And well…about that store…. My family actually owns that store. Which is how we get so much money.”

“ **Get real?! Can we go there sometime?!** ” I asked while sounding like an excited little kid.

_Which isn’t that far off from my normal personality, to be honest._

“Hmm…how about tomorrow?”

“ **Oh, I’m SO in! Thanks a lot, Raffina!** ”

Without thinking, I lunged at Raffina and wrapped my arms around her. Embracing her in a hug. Eventually, I felt her hands wrap around me. And together we sat there hugging each other for a good while.

I wasn’t entirely sure **EXACTLY** how long we’ve been hugging, but at that moment…I didn’t really care. The peachy scent of her hair and her soft, smooth skin was so comforting, that I never wanted it to end. I haven’t felt this relaxed since before coming here to this town. Never thought it would take me hugging another girl for me to feel this way, either.

It was…kinda nice. Like a new feeling has rushed itself inside my body. And even my heart was beating faster than normal.

Then, for some strange reason, I looked at Raffina. And she looked at me. It ended up being a staring contest for a while. A good while, to be exact.

…

…

But then…

“We’re back!” I heard Mom yell.

“ **GAH!** ” We both shouted in a panicked state as we quickly let go of each other.

“ **I’M SORRY! I’M SORRY! I’M SORRY! I’M SORRY! I’M SORRY! I’M SORRY!** ” Were the only things coming out of our mouths.

“Huh? What are you two apologizing for?” Lidelle asked.

We both looked at each other with light-red blushed cheeks before turning away from each other in an instant.

“N-Nothing.” We both said.

…

“Uh…Okay.” Lidelle said. Not understanding anything that’s happening right now. “I’ll go, uh…start on breakfast.”

The both of us went dead silent after that. Not saying a word throughout breakfast. Not even a glare. It was just so nerve-wracking do so for some reason.

_Why? Why am I feeling this way? To a friend that I just made yesterday? **To another girl?!**_

_Just what the heck is going on?_

 

About an hour later, Lidelle had finished making breakfast and we were, uh…shocked…to see what she had made.

Each of us had a really tall stack of pancakes that looked like it alone would get me full. Next to that was a bowl of scrambled eggs. Yes, **AN ENTIRE BOWL** of that stuff. There was also a fluffy, thick toast with butter, some slices of ham (with **EVEN MORE EGGS!** ), a green salad, and something else that I didn’t expect to see.

_Wait, is that an onsen tamago?! How the heck does she know what **that** is?!_

“W-Wow, Lidelle.” Raffina said. “Th-This is…”

“Damn. What a spread.” Mom said.

“ ** _*giggle*_** Thank you, everyone. I did say that I love to cook.” Lidelle said.

“Yeah, but…it never came to mind that you could cook **_this_** much.” I said.

“Yeah, sorry about that. My appetite kinda took over while I was cooking. It happens a lot.”

**_This_ ** _happens a lot?! Does her family eat this much too?!_

“Well. Here goes.” I said as I started taking a bite of the many things on this old table right now.

…

…

“W-Woah. Th-This is… **this is SOOO delicious!** ” I shouted with glee.

“Really?” Mom asked as she took a bit of the food.

…

…

“ **W-Woah! This stuff really is good!** ”

“See? I told you guys.” Raffina said. “Lidelle’s cooking is the absolute best.”

“ ** _*giggle*_** Thank you, everyone.” Lidelle sounded happy that we liked her cooking. I bet it rose her self-esteem a little bit. What with what she’s dealing with right now.

_It must hard going around thinking people hate you because you’re gay. I feel really bad for her._

We were having a great time together. Eating together and talking about random stuff. It was great…

…Until Mom up something from earlier that I was trying to forget.

“So what was with you two when we came back from the store?”

“ **Tch!** ” Both Raffina and I froze up with nervousness. Our faces were bright red and it was hard to look at each other once again.

“N-Nothing, Mom! It was absolutely nothing!” I yelled.

“Really? Cause it looks like something to me.”

“It’s nothing, Mom!”

“Then why are both of your faces red?” Lidelle asked.

_Seriously, Lidelle?! Now you’re asking questions?!_

 “Oh, I get it now. _Perhaps you two did some “adult stuff” while we were gone, huh?_ ” Mom said with an added wink.

“ **MOM!** ” It didn’t take long for me to figure out what she meant by that. And I was more embarrassed and now a bit mad that she suggested that.

“Okay, okay. I get it.”

Geez, Mom can be so persistent sometimes. Her constant interrogating and immaturity is the reason why I can’t any secrets from her. It’s so annoying!

But…then again…

“H-Hey, Mom. C-Can I talk to you for a second? I-In private?”

Mom found this request to be a bit random, but she didn’t question it much after that. And agreed to it as we went to the back of the house in one of the empty rooms and closed the door behind me.

“So what’s up, Ami? You okay?” Mom asked.

“W-Well…wh-while you two were gone…s-something did happen.”

“ _Ooh. So I was right about the “adult stuff” huh? Didn’t think you had it in ya, Ami._ ”

“ ** _It wasn’t like that!_** ” I yelled with a bit of anger inside me.

“Oh. Well, that sucks.”

_I’m not going to question that…_

“But…what happened kinda involves Raffina…”

“Huh? How? What happened?”

“Well…when you and Lidelle were out, Raffina and I were talking.”

“Okay…”

“She was telling me about the different stores here in Primp.”

“Uh-huh…”

“And when she told me that she would take us to see them, I kinda got excited and…”

“And…?”

I paused for a moment cause my embarrassment was on maximum overdrive. My cheeks were flushed with redness. They were about as red as a freshly ripped apple. I felt my words stuttering so hard it was hurting my throat a little. I knew I had to tell her, I mean I already said so much. So, I took a deep breath and just spat it out.

“ **Raffina and I actually hugged!** ”

…

…

“That’s it?” Mom asked with a puzzled look.

“ **Huh?! What do you mean** “ **That’s it?** ” **?!** ”

“I mean, it was just a simple hug. Why are you getting worked up over it?”

…

“ _W-Well…i-it was a long one. A-And when we noticed what had happened, we were too embarrassed to even look at each other._ ”

“ ** _*Pssh*_** ”

“Don’t **_*Pssh*_** this! I’m serious!”

“Ami. You’re just overreacting. Hugging another girl is nothing to be weirded out about.”

Then Mom went silent for a bit.

“Well…unless you suddenly gained feelings for said girl. Then it’s a whole different story.”

“Huh? Gained feelings?”

“Well, what I mean is…”

And just like last time, as Mom was about to answer, her phone rang and she picked it up to answer that instead of my question.

“Seriously?! Again?!” I got upset.

“Hold on, Ami.” She said to me. “Hello?”

“ _Why aren’t you at work yet?_ ”

“Seriously? You’re calling because of that? What happened to a simple “hello”?”

“ _Hello. Why aren’t you at work yet?_ ”

“Hilarious.” Mom sounded annoyed.

“ _I taught her everything I know, meow._ ”

“ ** _*sigh*_** Whatever. I’m leaving now.”

“ _Alright. Bye._ ”

Mom then hung up the phone and sighed once more before looking back at me.

“Sorry, Ami. I gotta get to work.”

“B-But what about my problem?” I asked.

“Uh…Google it! He knows everything!”

_Google’s a male?_

“See ya.”

As Mom left the room, I did take what she said into mind. Not the whole “Google being a guy” part. I mean the stuff before it. It was such a random thing for her to say…but it kinda made sense.

_But…is it possible? For me to like a girl?_

It was really something for me to think about.

 

**Raffina’s POV**

 

Soon after Amitie took Melody to the back of the house to talk, I turned to Lidelle with an embarrassed look on my face. Hoping that I could do the same.

“H-Hey Lidelle. C-Can we talk for a sec?” I asked nervously.

“Sure, Raffina. What’s up?” Lidelle sat down next to me as I tried to collect my thoughts. I didn’t really know how to explain this, so I just went with whatever words came to mind.

“W-Well…uh…wh-when you and Melody were at the store, something did happen with Amitie and me…"

“Wait, really? So Melody was right about the “adult stuff”?”

“ **What?! No! Lidelle! Nothing like that happened!** ”

“Oh. Well…that kinda sucks.”

_How does that…n-never mind._

“But what did happened…kinda involves Amitie.”

“Really? How?”

“Well…while the two of you were gone, Amitie and I were talking…”

“Okay…”

“I told her about the different stuff to do at the plaza…”

“Go on…”

“And when I told her I would show her around tomorrow, she was so happy that she…”

“That she what?”

At that moment I stopped talking. I felt my cheeks burning like I ate a chili pepper or something. I was so embarrassed on actually saying this, but I don’t know who else to talk to about this. So, I took a deep breath and just said it.

“ **Amitie and I actually hugged each other!** ”

…

…

“That’s it?” Lidelle asked with a puzzled look.

“ **Huh?! What do you mean** “ **That’s it?** ” **?!** ”

“I mean, it was just a simple hug. Why are you getting worked up over it?”

…

“Raffina?”

“ _W-Well…i-it was a long one. A-And when we noticed what had happened, we were too embarrassed to even look at each other._ ”

“O-Oh. Okay. I think I understand now.”

“Really? You do?”

“Yes. It is one of those “adult stuff” after all.

“ ** _Will you quit saying that?!_** ” I yelled with a bit of anger inside me.

“Anyway. I don’t think I can help you, Raffina.”

“Huh?! Why the hell not?! I thought we were best friends!”

“We are best friends! And, uh…I do have a theory on this. But honestly, it’s too early for me to tell.”

“What is it?”

"U-Uh…w-well…" Lidelle went back to her stuttering trait as she tried to say what it was that she thinks is upsetting me.

“I think it’s because you’ve gained feelings for Amitie.”

…

…

“What?” Was all I was able to say.

“L-Like I said, it’s too early to tell.”

“Wait, hold on! Me?! Having feelings for Amitie?! B-But I’m not a lesbian!”

I then went silent for a little bit.

“ _W-Well…a-at least I think I’m not._ ”

“It’s best not to think about it right now. It was confusing for me when I first started to realize my true feelings. And it really took a toll on me.”

_Oh, yeah. Lidelle must've gone through this herself at one point. She definitely knows what she's talking about._

“W-Well…yeah. But what about…”

“See ya!”

We then saw Melody walked past us and went out the front door of the house. Amitie came out not long after and saw us sitting together.

“Where did Melody go?” Lidelle asked.

“To work.” Amitie said.

“Really? She already has a job?” I asked.

“Yeah. She’s writing a light-novel for the library here.”

“No way! Your mom’s a writer?!”

“Apparently. So now it’s just us three here.”

“I see.”

“So what were you two doing?”

…

…

I looked at Lidelle and she looked at me with a small smile of confidence. I then turned to face Amitie again while thinking of something to say.

“Uh…j-just about what we’re going to do tomorrow. I’ve got the whole day planned out.”

“Really? The whole day?”

“Yep. Trust us, you’re going to love it here, Amitie.”

“I can agree to that.” Lidelle added.

“Wow. Thanks, guys. I do hope you take care of me.” Amitie said.

“Huh? Take care of you?” Lidelle and I both asked in confusion.

“U-Uh…th-that just slipped out. I-It’s something I used to say.”

“Huh.”

Well…I managed to hide the conversation with Lidelle about that weird thing I had with Amitie. But now it's possible that the reason it happened is that I might have feelings for her. Lidelle did say that it's too early to tell, but this isn't something I can just push to the back of my mind. As I may have feelings for another girl.

_Is it…is it really possible?_

“Uh…hey guys.”

“Yeah, Amitie?” We both asked.

“I just realized something. It’s just the three of us, and we said we would clean the house today.”

…

…

…

“Damnit.” Was all we said while we facepalmed our heads.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Midway through the beginning, I started feeling that Raffina would fit this chapter more. So I switched a bit early. Then went back to how it was writing in the original version.
> 
> Also, sorry if these take a while to update. I’ve been watching a playthrough of Persona 5 on YouTube and it’s so immersing, that I lose track of time. I’ve heard of the series before the Smash trailer. But I want to learn as much of the game before the DLC comes out.
> 
> Feel free to review, favorite, and/or follow the story. Thanks for reading. Later.


	10. The Red Puyo Hat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *This chapter was edited. As some things were either added or removed from the original version.*

**Amitie’s POV**

 

It pretty much took us three the entire day to clean the whole house. We had cleaned the kitchen, the living room, the hallway, and even all three bedrooms!

Like I said before, the bathroom was the only area that was surprisingly clean compared to the rest of the house. You would think after a decade it would be the most filthy, but it wasn’t. So we just let it be.

Now the three of us were laying on our futons. Completely exhausted from what we did today.

“ ** _*sigh*_** _I’m so tired._ ” Raffina said in a weak state.

“ _Me too._ ” Lidelle said in the same tone. “ _I’ve never worked that much in one day before._ ”

“ _Guys. You really didn’t have to do this. Cleaning my whole house with me._ ” I said in the same way as the others.

“Don’t be silly, Amitie. We don’t mind at all.” Raffina said to me.

“We wanted to help. That’s what friends do. They help each other.” Lidelle added.

I felt my heart beating faster as I heard those words coming from my new friends. For a while now, I’ve felt kinda lonely. Blaming myself for the situation Mom and I got ourselves into. But ever since I’ve met Raffina and Lidelle, I’ve felt **_way_** happier than how I’ve felt before.

“Guys. I…I don’t know what else to say but…thank you.” I said. Trying to hold in my tears of joy.

“You’re welcome, Amitie.” They both said.

As we continued to lay there together, we heard the door open and close and footsteps getting closer to the living room.

“I’m back, girl-whoa.” Mom said as she entered the living room. “D-Did I enter the wrong house or something?”

“No, Mom. It’s our house.” I said. “We’ve spent the entire day cleaning it.”

“Every room is clean.” Raffina said.

“Not one spot is dirty.” Lidelle said.

“ _And it smells like lemons in here._ ” We all whined while remembering how much work we did.

“I see. Well, thank you girls for doing something this big. I would repay you somehow, but I’m broke as hell.”

“It’s okay, Melody.” Raffina said. “Us three are going out tomorrow to show Amitie around town. You’re welcomed to join.”

“ ** _*sigh*_** I wish. But I gotta go back to work tomorrow. Writing a light-novel is a lot harder than I remembered.”

“You’re just saying that because tomorrow’s Sunday and you want to sleep in.” I said.

“S-So?! Can’t a woman dream?!”

“ ** _*giggle*_** We get it.” Us three started laughing.

“Tch. Whatever.” Mom obviously got insulted.

We ended up eating the leftovers from breakfast for dinner (no surprise that there were leftovers). And then after playing Super Mario Kart for a couple hours (and Lidelle complaining about how the controls are terrible), we all went to bed and finally called it day. I was so excited to hang out with Raffina tomorrow. I know I’m gonna have so much fun! I seriously can’t wait much longer!

 

“ _Amitie…_ ”

**_*tired moan*_ **

“ _Amitie…_ ”

**_*another tired moan*_ **

“Amitie…” I felt my body shake as I woke up from having my name being called out.

“ _H-Huh? Wh-What time is it?_ " I asked. Then after rubbing my eyes a bit, I got a good look at what my arms were holding. It looked…familiar. Almost like I've seen it earlier in time. But when?

“ _A-Amitie…_ ” I heard my name again.

 That’s when I looked up. And realized…that I was snuggling up against Raffina.

Again.

“ **GAH! R-RAFFINA! I-I’M SORRY! I-I WASN’T…UH, I, WELL…** ”

“A-Amitie! I-It’s okay!” Raffina yelled in an attempt to calm me down.

“R-Really?”

“Y…Yeah.” I then noticed that she was blushing heavily as she turned her head a little. “ _A-And plus, I really liked it._ ”

“Huh?”

“ **N-Nothing! I-I was just…I didn’t say anything!** ”

“ **O-Okay!** ”

We both then just stared at each other with our blushed faces slowly getting redder. I felt my heart beating faster and faster with every moment this went on for. That talk with Mom yesterday…am I **_really_** overreacting? Could this mean something? Something that I’m missing? This weird feeling I’m having…

“Uh…guys?”

“ **H-Huh?! Wh-What?!** ” We both panicked.

“Are you two okay? You’ve been staring at each other for a while now.” Lidelle asked. She and Mom apparently had been staring at us staring at each other. When we realized that, we were both pretty embarrassed.

“Uh…y-yeah. W-We’re fine. R-Right, Amitie?” Raffina asked me.

“Y-Yeah. W-We’re totally fine. C-Completely normal.” I said.

The two others just looked at us with the kind of look that reads “what a bunch of weirdos.” based on the expression.

“Uh…okay(?)” They both said. Eventually letting it go.

The three of us then got dressed and headed out for the day. Raffina had kept her promise from yesterday and was going to show me around the different shops in the plaza. Mom stayed behind, as she still had to continue working on the light novel for her publisher.

“So, what’s this light novel that Melody’s working on?” Lidelle asked as we were walking down the block from my house.

“I honestly have no idea. She won’t even tell me. Keeps saying that it’s a secret.” I answered while rubbing the back of my head in the process.

“Well whatever it’s about, I’ll be the first one to buy it.” Raffina said with thumbs up and a smile.

Another faint blush came across my face. The way Raffina smiled just now was really cute for some reason. I really don’t know why, but it just does. It also reminded me of what Mom said yesterday. I’m starting to think that I’m not overreacting, but I still have no idea what it could be instead. And it’s been bothering me ever since.

“Th-Thanks…Raffina. Th-That would help us a lot.” I stuttered nervously. Raffina, noticing my blushed face, started blushing on her own.

“N-No problem…Amitie. Th-That’s what friends are for.” She replied while being a little embarrassed.

“ _Oh? Is Raffina being embarrassed?_ I didn’t think that was possible with a ravenous gorilla like you.”

Suddenly, we heard a voice come from behind us. It belonged to one of the boys from school. He wore a purple vest and pants combo with a white shirt underneath the vest. He also had on a fancy purple hat with a giant wing on the front, and it looked like he was wearing a stopwatch for a bowtie.

“ **What the hell did you just call me, you damn jerk?!** ” Raffina swore at the boy, who grew a smirk on his face while pushing up his glasses.

“So we’re losing our hearing now, are we Raffina? I guess that’s another thing to add to the **_LONG_** list of reasons of why you’ll never be remotely better than me! _Kyahahahaha!_ ”

“ _Why you little…_ ” Raffina was boiling red with anger. And I honestly don’t blame her.

The longer this boy was arguing with Raffina, throwing insults left and right to each other, the more I started to hate him. How can someone **_this_** mean actually exist? I wanted to say something, but I really didn’t the guy aside from what the girls told me about him. I didn’t how it would end up if I got involved.

“It’s okay, Amitie. Klug’s like this with everyone.” Lidelle said to me.

“What? Seriously? With everyone?”

“Yeah. He has this dream of being a world-famous magician, so he acts like what he calls “mature”.” Lidelle place the word mature in air quotes.

**_This_ ** _is what he thinks being mature is?!_

“Well, he’s not very good at it.” I said.

“Yeah. Far from it.” Lidelle said.

I giggled at Lidelle’s response which caused a chain reaction. The laughing caught the attention of Raffina and the boy, who I now know is named Klug.

“Oh, yeah. Your name’s Amitie, right?” Klug asked me, completely ignoring Raffina.

“Yeah, why?” I responded with a question.

“Eh, no reason. I just remembered you from class. You probably heard me call you an idiot back then, huh? Well just so you know, you weren’t supposed to hear that. At least not at that moment, I mean.”

“How is **_that_**  any better?!” Raffina yelled.

“No one asked you, Ape.” Klug said to her. Which only got Raffina angrier. “Anyway, if you ever need **_some_** enlightenment, please don’t hesitate to ask me.”

“Gee thanks, Klug. I’ll keep that in mind.” I said with a fake smile.

“You should. You won’t get much far in life hanging around with the primitive baboon and…that other one.”

“ ** _That other one?!_** ” Lidelle said while being slightly insulted.

“Don’t you have somewhere else to be, Klug?” Raffina asked.  
“Aw yes, that’s right. I’ve got a study day planned at the library. I’m just wasting time talking to you plebs. Don’t wait up. _Kyahahahaha!_ ”

Klug then left with a cheeky smile on his face. The way he walked away, with one hand in his pocket and the other waving at us with little to no effort, really pissed me off.

“What a jerk.” I said shortly after he left.

“Yeah, totally.” Lidelle agreed. “I mean really? “That other one”? We’re in the same class! How did he forget my name?!”

We were both extremely annoyed, but then I felt Raffina’s hand on my shoulder, which made me blush a little.

“C’mon, guys. Lets’ not have that idiot ruin our day. We’ve got lots planned for today and we need to be in a good mood.” She said to us.

Raffina’s encouraging words made me blush even more. To the point where my cheeks were getting hot. Whatever this feeling is, I just want it to stop already so that I can act normal around Raffina.

“ _Y-Yeah. Y-You’re right, Raffina._ ” I turned my head away and stuttered a response.

“ _Y-Yeah. G-Glad I could help, Amitie._ ” Raffina stuttered back.

The two of us walked at a moderate pace. Looking straight forward and ignored each other’s hot red faces.

Well, at least tried too.

“ _This is getting interesting…_ ” Lidelle teased.

“Shut it, Lidelle.” We both said, which lead her to giggle at us.

 

The first spot we went to was the clothing store. We went inside and, despite being told it was a small shop, there were **TONS** of clothes. I walked around the store while looking at the clothes on display. Some of them looked pretty cute. And I’ve been wanting to get new clothes and replace the old ones I’ve left behind.

“Woah! There’s so many clothes here! Really cute ones, too!” I cheered.

“Yeah, they are really cute.” Lidelle said. “But some are rather pricey.”

“Huh?” I then looked at the price tag of a nearby shirt…

…and almost had a heart attack.

“ _D-Damn._ ”

“I get that reaction every time.” Lidelle said.

“And I don’t have any money, either.”

“Don’t worry, girls.” Raffina said. “Whatever you want, I’ll pay for it. I’ll just use my credit card.”

“ **W-What?! N-No!** I-I mean…you don’t have to do that, Raffina.” I said.

“Y-Yeah. I-I don’t really need any new clothes right now.” Lidelle added.

“C’mon. Don’t be like that. Friends are supposed to help each other, right? I really don’t mind.”

…

…

“W-Wow. Th-Thanks, Raffina.” I said as I turned my head away, hiding the redness that appeared on my face.

“Y-Yes. Thank you so much, Raffina.” Lidelle said with a bow.

“You guys…”

“ _Ohoho_. Well, isn’t that nice?”

As I turn around to see where the voice was coming from, what I saw was…not normal. At least to me. The owner of the voice was a skeleton wearing a blue and purple tuxedo jacket and a top hat on its head. It also had one eyeball missing, which was replaced with a single yellow dot.

Needless to say, I was frozen in fear.

“Oh hey, Oshare. You look well.” Raffina greeted the skeleton.

“Nice day isn’t it, Mr. Oshare?” Lidelle followed suit.

…

“Uh…what?” I stood there dumbfounded at the fact these two girls were not only not afraid of the skeleton but were also being friendly with it. Raffina saw my confused face and giggled a bit.

“Oh sorry, Amitie. Didn’t mean to leave you out there. This is Oshare Bones. He owns this store.” She explained.

“W-Woah! Really?!” I responded in shock.

“Was it **_that_ ** unbelievable?” Oshare asked.

“Oh, sorry. It’s just…this is my first time seeing a living skeleton.”

“Understandable. I bet most skeletons you saw before were portrayed as scary undead beings, huh?”

“Yeah, pretty much. But now after meeting you, I kinda feel bad for them.”

“ _Ohoho_! Finally! Someone who understands our true feelings! This introduction was psychedelic. All of you, feel free to pick out anything you want. My treat.”

“W-Wow! Thank you, uh…Mr. Oshare Bones!”

“Oh, please. “Mr. Oshare Bones” is totally too formal. Just call me Oshare.”

“Oh. Okay then. Thank you, Oshare.”

With Oshare’s offer taken, the three of us looked around the miniature clothing store. Lidelle was looking at some green sweaters at one corner of the store, Raffina was looking at clothes that looked really expensive, and I was just walking around. Stopping every so often when I saw a cute outfit.

“Wow. So many stuff here. I’m not sure what I want. It’s just so cute. And expensive. But mostly cute.”

Then something caught my eye. I walked over to where the thing was and see this weird looking red hat. The top was shaped almost like the hood of a sweater, while the outer sides had an extra layer of fabric. The front of the hat had two large purple eyes that looked emotionless.

I kept staring at the hat for a little longer, somehow completely immersed into it. When suddenly…

* ** _BLINK_** *

“ **Waaahh!** ” I screamed, gaining the attention of the other three people in the store.

“Amitie, what’s wrong?” Raffina worriedly asked.

“ **Th-That hat! I-It just blinked at me!** ”

“A hat… ** _blinked_ ** at you?” Raffina looked at me like I had a screw loose.

“ **I’m serious! It really did blink at me!** ”

“Amitie…I know we're still kids and all, but you must have some imagination to believe that a hat just miraculously bli-”

* ** _BLINK_** *

“ **Holy crap! That hat actually blinked!** ”

We were all dumbfounded at what we just witnessed. A hat, an article of clothing, was blinking at us. Is this thing alive or something?

“ _H-Hey, Mr. Oshare. What’s with this hat, anyway?_ ” Lidelle asked nervously.

“I honestly have no idea.” Oshare replied. “This hat’s been here for about 2 months now. Recently people have complained that they want to try the hat on, but they can never pick it up. Almost as if it wants to decide on its own who gets to wear it."

**_*BLINK*_ **

I looked back at the hat as it blinked for a third time. Whether or not what Oshare said was true, this hat was driving my curiosity insane. So I grabbed the hat on both sides and prepared to give it all my strength…

…only to end up being absolutely unnecessary. Because the hat just popped off with little to no effort on my end.

“I-It came off!” Oshare said sounding shocked.

**_*BLINK*_ **

As the hat blinked at me for the fourth time, I began the gesture of putting it on my head.

“W-Wait, Amitie! Y-You’re not seriously going to put it on, are you?!” Raffina sounded scared.

“Well…it is a really cute hat.” I said.

With the hat near inches from my head at this point, I really didn’t have a choice. I put the hat on my head, waited a few seconds, and…

…

…

“It’s surprisingly a perfect fit.” I said.

“Huh?” Everyone else was in complete shock. Shorty after, Oshare cleared his throat.

“W-Well, this is a first. I’ve never had clothing do anything like this before.” He said.

“You okay, Amitie? You’re not hurt or anything?” Lidelle asked while still being a little scared.

“I’m alright, Lidelle. It’s just this hat’s a little…huh?”

I started tugging on the hat, but it wouldn't budge. Then I tried pulling on the loose part with both hands. Still nothing. At this point, I was starting to get scared again.

“ **I-It won’t come off!** ”

“ **WHAT?!** ” The trio said in unison.

“ **It’s stuck! I can’t get it off!** ”

“Let me try!” Raffina said as she got behind me. Once she did, she grabbed the loose end of the hat and pulled with all her might.

“ **AHHHH! RAFFINA! STOP! OWWWW! IT HURTS! STOP! PLEASE!** ”

But it didn’t move an inch. I was on the verge of tears when Raffina eventually did let go.

“Sorry! You’re not hurt, are you?”

“Just a little pain. But more importantly...”

“ **A-Amitie! The hat’s eyes…they’re closed!** ” Lidelle said in shock.

“Huh?”

“ **It’s also glowing!** ” Oshare added.

“Say what?”

I went to a nearby mirror and saw that they were right. The hat’s previously emotionless eyes were closed tight and the hat itself was glowing a red aura.

“I-I think it’s…sharing your pain, Amitie.” Lidelle continued.

“Sh-Sharing my pain?!” I asked. “Y-You mean this hat can feel pain?!”

“How is it doing that?” Raffina asked.

“Well…” Lidelle stalled for a moment while looking at the hat. Then she continued with her thought. “When Raffina was pulling on it, you felt a little pain, right?”

I didn’t know where Lidelle was going with this, but I had a weird feeling that I wasn’t going to like it. But for now, I have no choice but to go along with it.

“Yeah…” I said.

“Well…I think the hat’s copying your current emotion.”

“C-Copy?! M-My emotions?!”

_This hat just keeps getting weirder by the minute!_

“I wonder…would your teacher know anything about this hat?” Oshare asked.

“Probably. Raffina answered. “But she’s out of town. We won’t be able to ask her until tomorrow.”

“Huh. Too bad. I wish I could help you girls out in some way, but I’ve got to close up shop soon. If you do find anything about it though, please tell me.”

“Will do. See you later, Oshare.”

We left Oshare’s shop and were walking down the sidewalk figuring out what to do now after that ordeal happened.

“Hey, Amitie. Do you want to go home? I can understand if you do.” Raffina shamefully asked.

“ **What?! No! I want to stay here and see the rest of the plaza!** ” I responded.

“But Amitie. That hat…” Lidelle said with as much self-shame as Raffina.

“I know. This hat is weird and somewhat creepy. And it no doubt has put me in a bad mood. But I really want to continue hanging out with you girls. And I’m not going to let a stupid hat ruin it for me!”

Raffina and Lidelle looked at each other with at first worried looks. But then they both grew smiles as they turned to face me again.

“Alright, Amitie.” Raffina said.

“We believe you.” Lidelle said.

“Great!” I cheered.

**_*GROWL*_ **

"Uh…hey, guys. Is there someplace we can get something to eat? I'm starving."

“Starving, huh?” Lidelle asked. “Then I know just the place.”

“Uh-oh.” Raffina and I both said.

“Don’t worry. You’ll be able to finish it all. I promise.”

We didn’t know what else to say to counterclaim that. So we both went with Lidelle to whatever place she had in mind for us to eat.

_I really hope my stomach can take it this time…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys remember how this was a 2-parter in the original? Well in this version, the second part will be a completely separate chapter with a completely different name. It’ll be better that way, trust me.
> 
> Feel free to review, favorite, and/or follow the story. Thanks for reading. Later.


	11. The Fashion Student

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *This chapter was edited. As some things were either added or removed from the original version.*

**Raffina’s POV**

 

_Geez. I really feel bad for what happened to Amitie. Having that weird hat stuck on her head. And an ugly one, at that. I thought she wanted to go home, but the fact that she wanted to stay with us…I don’t know why, but that really made me happy._

_It’s probably this weird feeling I have right now. I couldn’t stop thinking about it since that talk with Lidelle the other day. Do I want to be friends with Amitie? W-Wait, why the hell am I even asking that?! Of course, I do!_

_But…that talk. Lidelle made some good points. Even though it was a short talk._

_So could it mean…that I see Amitie in **THAT** way?_

_As in…more than a friend?_

_…_

_I’m…I’m probably overthinking it(?)_

“Hey, Raffina. You okay? Your face is all red.” Amitie asked me.

“H-Huh? O-Oh, yeah. I’m perfectly fine, Amitie. No need to worry.”

“Huh. Okay. If you say so.”

**_*phew*_ ** _That was close…_

After the whole ordeal with the weird hat that Amitie's now stuck with, I decided to take her to this sweats shop that just recently opened here. Not only is the ice cream absolutely delicious, but it also has all sorts of candy, chocolate, and cake. I wouldn't mind eating this stuff everyday…

…if I didn’t have to worry about getting fat.

“ **WOW! This ice cream is delicious!** ” Amitie shouted as she took multiple bites of her ice cream sundae. “If I didn’t have to worry about getting fat, I would eat this every day."

_She just took the words right out of my mouth._

“Amitie, be careful!” Lidelle said. “You don’t want to get a…”

“ _Owwwwie!_ ” Amitie whined while placing both her hands on her head in pain.

“…brain freeze.”

Amitie rubbed her head for a couple of seconds, then stopped when she finally found some relief. While Lidelle and I were giggling through the whole thing like it was a comedy skit.

“ _Geez, guys! Don’t laugh at my pain!_ ” Amitie said in a pouty voice.

“Sorry, Amitie. It was just so funny.” I said while trying to stop laughing.

“ _Meanies._ ” Amitie continued to pout at us, then eventually got over it.

It was at that same moment that looked at the hat on her head, and it was acting weird again.

“A-Amitie! Th-The hat!” I yelled.

“ _Huh?! W-What’s it doing now?!_ ” She sounded scared. Not knowing what’s with this hat (on top of the fact that it won’t come off) has really taken a toll on her.

I dug through my pocket and pulled out a miniature mirror to show Amitie what was happening. The hat was now squinting its eyes like it was in pain and it was glowing a very light blue hue. It was also shaking like it was cold or something.

“I think it’s copying your brain freeze, Amitie.”

“Huh? Why would it want to do that?” Amitie sounded concerned for the thing, despite forcing itself on her head.

“Are you worry about the hat, Amitie?” Lidelle asked.

“Well, yeah…kinda. I mean, I got to make sure that whatever this hat does doesn’t completely destroy my hair.”

“Yeah, true. But what if the thing has… _other powers_?”

“Other powers?” Amitie had a confused look on her face.

“Specifically… _other-worldly powers_?” Lidelle wiggled her fingers to make it sound scarier.

“ _Uhh…_ ”

Amitie’s confused look had now turned into a “Really?” kind of look. She was trying to come up with a response to Lidelle’s insane theory when…

“Why hello there, ladies. Enjoying your ice cream?”

“Oh. Hey, Lemres. I didn’t know you were here.” I said.

“Good day to you, Mr. Lemres.” Lidelle did a formal greeting while also doing a bow.

I looked over at Amitie and saw that she had the same confused look from meeting Oshare earlier.

“Oh, Amitie. This is Lemres. He’s the owner of the sweets shop.”

“Ah. So you’re Amitie? Ms. Accord has already told me so much about you. It’s nice to finally meet you in person.” Lemres greeted with a tip of his hat.

“Nice to meet you too, Lemres.” Amitie said with a smile.

“I didn’t think you would be here, Mr. Lemres. What with you being busy with your studies and all.” Lidelle said.

“Studies? Does he go to the same school as us?” Amitie asked.

“Well, no actually. Lemres studies magic at the community college here.”

“Studying magic? So that’s actually a thing?”

“Yeah. You’ve never heard of it?”

“We’re going to start learning about it at school tomorrow.” Lidelle added.

“Huh. That’s…interesting.” Amitie still looked skeptical after hearing that.

“Anyway…” I continued. “Lemres is what’s known as a comet warlock. He’s one of the strongest magic users in all of Primp. Despite being a weirdo sometimes.”

“Oh, it’s not that big of a de- wait…how am I a weirdo?” Lemres was enjoying the praise he was getting but then realized the one criticism.

“Do we really need to explain it, Lemres?” I asked sarcastically.

“I wanna know.” Amitie said.

“Well…whenever we would run into Lemres just by chance, he would offer us some of his candy that he always carries with him.”

“W-Wow…” Amitie sounded uncomfortable.

“How is that weird? I just like to share, that’s all.” Lemres tried to justify.

“It’s weird because we’re only 16, Lemres.” I said.

“We’re only 4 years apart. No big deal.”

“Uh…I’m actually 15.” Amitie said.

“Me too.” Lidelle added.

…

Lemres didn’t say anything and instead turned his head away from us out of embarrassment. I know he’s not going to stop offering us candy during random encounters, but hopefully after this conversation he’ll at least tone it down a bit.

“Anyway, Lemres. Was there something you wanted from us?” I asked.

“Ah, yes.” Lemres replied then cleared his throat. “I couldn’t help but overhear you girls talking about a hat with magical powers…”

“Do you know something about it?!” Amitie sounded excited when asking the question.

“Well, it sounds familiar. I’ve learned about how magic can be stored in common jewelry like bracelets and necklaces, but I’ve never heard of a hat possessing such powers.”

“So do you think you can get it off my head? It’s kinda stuck.”

“Well…I could. But I don’t know what my magic could do to your head.”

“O-Oh. Right.” Amitie sounded a little scared thinking of the possibilities.

“What we need to figure out is not the magic within the hat, but the hat itself.”

The three of us had the most confused looks on our faces. We had absolutely no idea where Lemres was going with this theory of his.

“What I mean is, the hat being stuck on your head probably has nothing to do magic. And that it could be something else entirely.”

“Get real…”

“Woah…”

“Sounds scary…”

The three of us were just astonished (and a little scared) at the fact that such a power could even exist, and inside a hat no less.

“So, do you know what this power is, Lemres?” Amitie asked.

Lemres grew a small frown on his face while shaking his head in disagreement.

“Unfortunately, I don’t. And furthermore, I don’t know anything about hats or fashion in general. So I have no idea why this power exists inside a hat of all things. But **_perhaps_** there’s someone here in town you could ask.”

As Lemres said that, he turned to me and gave me a smirk like I already knew the answer.

And unfortunately…I do.

“ _Aw, come on Lemres._ _Do we really need to ask **her**?_ ” I said in a pouty attitude. While Amitie and Lidelle looked at me with confused looks on their faces.

“Who’s **her**?” They both asked in sync.

I tried to say silent, but with the three of them staring me down (especially Amitie), I couldn’t do it for long.

“ ** _*sigh*_** Okay, fine. We could ask my older sister Amira. She’s studying fashion at the college, so she **_might_** know something about it.”

“Woah! Really?!” Amitie asked in high spirits.

“You have an older sister?” Lidelle asked.

“Yeah. But I don’t bring her up much. She’s kinda a pain to deal with.”

“I see.”

 “ **Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, Raffina! You truly are the best!** ” Amitie looked so excitedly happy to hear to hear such a possibility, that she grabbed me by my waist and hugged me as tight as she could and nuzzled on my cheek.

“ _Y-You’re welcome…A-Amitie._ ” I couldn’t stop blushing at that point. Aside from that hug earlier, I’ve never been this close to Amitie before. And I honestly don’t think I could handle it much longer. Luckily, Amitie looked at me and realized what she was doing. And instantaneously jumped off me with extreme embarrassment.

“ **I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, Raffina! I-I didn’t mean to hug you like that! I-I was just so happy, and…** ” She was just as beat red as I was. And like the other two times, the hat was copying Amitie’s current emotion. It had the same squinted eyes and pink hue from back at Oshare’s shop.

“ **N-No!** I-I mean, you don’t have to apologize, Amitie. I-I completely understand that you were happy. And personally… _I-I think it’s cute when you’re happy._ ”

“ _R-Raffina?_ ”

“ **W-Wait! Th-That came out wrong! Wh-What I meant was…** ”

“ **N-No! I get it! Really, I do!** ”

We just sat there staring at each other’s flaming red faces for a short while until I broke out of the trance.

“ _Sh-Shall we go?_ ” I asked still stuttering.

“ _Y-Yeah. L-Let’s go._ ” Amitie answered also still stuttering.

With that said, we both quickly got up from our seats and started walking out of the building. Lidelle and Lemres quickly caught up with us. And I could hear them having a conversation.

“Mr. Lemres. You notice it too, right?”

“Yep. Sure do, Lidelle.”

“When do you think they’ll notice?”

“Only time will tell.”

“Notice **_what_**?” I asked.

“Nothing, Raffina.” They both said with a cheeky smile.

_Aw, damn. Does Lemres see it now, too? With how I was acting back there, there’s no doubt that he does._

_M-Maybe…maybe they’re right…_

 

Today, Amira was managing the jewelry store. So I took everyone there with little hesitation. As we stood in front of the store, I was still against the idea of asking Amira for help.

_Mainly because I didn’t want her to meet Amitie and Lidelle._

But with a little nudge of encouragement from Lemres, I was able to open the door and enter the store with everyone following me inside. The first thing I noticed was Amira doing the same thing she’s always doing whenever she’s at home or managing the jewelry store…

…sleeping.

**_*sigh*_ ** _Here we go._

I walked over to the counter where Amira was and saw that she had her headphones on her again. I took off the headphones and started shaking her in order to wake her up.

“Amira.” I called her name.

But she didn’t move.

“ _Amira._ ” I said with a little anger.

Still nothing. And I was about to give up too. That’s when Amira started talking in her sleep.

“ _Hahahaha…One more life, and then it’s night-night forever…_ ”

_What the hell does that mean?! Should I be afraid?! I better wake her up fast!_

“ **Amira! Amira, wake up, damn it!** ” I shouted while shaking her really hard.

“­ _H-Huh?!_ ” Amira looked around the area a bunch until she saw me standing in front of the counter. “Oh. Hey, Sis. Is it closing time already?”

“What? No! It’s only a quarter past 12!”

“ ** _*whine*_** _It’s only now afternoon? I’m so bored here._ ”

“Quit whining, will you? I need your help with something.”

“ _Geez, Sis. You woke me up for a favor? Why couldn’t this wait until we got home?_ ”

“Amira…” I said with a facepalm.

“Hello there, Amira. Having a nice day, I presume?” Lemres asked as he walked up behind me. I guess he saw that this was starting to get nowhere and wanted to help.

“ **L-L-Lemres?!** **W-W-Woah!** ”

***THUD***

And the next thing I knew, Amira had fallen off the chair she was sitting on and was on the floor rubbing her head. She then had gotten up and was standing over the counter.

“W-What are you doing here, Lemres?” She asked.

“Sorry to disturb you while you’re working Amira, but I was hoping if you could help us with a problem we’re having.”

“S-Sure! I’ll be glad to help! Anything for you, Lemres!”

“Oh, for God’s sake...” I said as I walked over to Amitie and Lidelle with an exasperated look on my face.

“Woah. So that’s your sister, Raffina?” Amitie asked.

"Yeah, that's her. Her name's Amira and she goes to the same community college Lemres does."

“I see.”

“She acts… ** _real_** differently from you.” Lidelle said.

“ ** _*sigh*_** Don’t remind me.”

“So does your sister…have a thing for Lemres?” Amitie asked.

“Yeah. One moment, she’s lazy and immature. But whenever Lemres is around, she acts like one those girls you see in those cheesy romantic comedy shows.”

“So, she has like a split personality or something?”

…

“Yeah, I guess never really thought of that.” I said after thinking about it.

“Kinda reminds me of Feli.” Lidelle added.

“Oh, don’t even get me started with her. It’s even worse whenever Feli comes to visit.” At this moment, my exasperated face grew more exasperated at the thought of those encounters.

“Who’s Feli?” Amitie asked.

“My cousin. She comes over to visit sometimes. And like Amira, she has a huge crush on Lemres. Seeing those two fight over him is the most annoying thing in the world.”

“I see. I feel bad for you, Raffina.”

“Ah, you don’t have to. To be honest, I’m actually rooting for Feli.”

“R-Really?”

“Yep. But don’t tell Amira that.”

The two girls in front of me giggled and then gave me a wink of an eye.

“We won’t.” They replied. And then I started giggling with them. Which finally got Amira’s attention away from Lemres.

“Woah, Sis. You weren’t kidding when you said you had friends.”

“Of course, I wasn’t kidding.” I got insulted. “Even someone like me can have friends.”

“Yeah, yeah. I believe you. So who are they, anyway?”

“My name’s Amitie.”

“My name’s Lidelle.” Lidelle greeted her with a bow.

"Name's Amira. Glad to see that my little sis doesn't have any imaginary friends at her age. Although, she did have one when she was 5."

“ **A-Amira!** ” I shouted with a faint blush of embarrassment.

“Whoops. Sorry, Sis.”

“Nothing wrong with having an imagination that big, Raffina.” Lemres said.

"You're not helping at all, Lemres."

I thought I was about to get ridiculed for what I did as a 5-year-old, but then I saw Amira look at Amitie and soon gained a look of total shock.

“W-Wait a sec! Isn’t that the hat from Oshare’s shop?! How did you get it off the rack?!” She asked.

“We were at his shop earlier and I just saw it sitting there. And after it blinked at me a couple times, I put it on my head and now it won’t come off.” Amitie explained.

“We feel like it’s some kind of power that’s doing this, but I don’t have a clue on what this power is. So that’s why we came to you, Amira.” Lemres added.

“Well, thank God you did!” Amira cheered.

“Wait, you **_actually_** know what it is?” I asked.

“Yep! I have a book about it in my bag! I’ll go get it!”

_Huh. Maybe it was a good idea to ask her._

Amira dug through her school bag and took out one of her fashion books from the class she's taking. She flipped through the pages until she found what she was looking for.

“Here it is.” Amira said as she shoved the book our way. She showed us a picture of 5 different colored hats all with big lifeless eyes. One of the hats looked awfully familiar.

“A-Amitie, look!” I shouted.

“It’s my hat! And there are others like it!” Amitie replied.

“These 5 hats are known as the legendary Puyo Hats.” Amira continued. “Legend has it that long ago, these hats were separated and scattered across our world from a different world through means of space-time. No one knows how that happened, but I’ve read that these hats have other-worldly powers unknown to humanity.”

“See?! I told you it was a possibility! And you two thought it was creepy.” Lidelle was gloating about her theory being right.

Lemres, on the other hand, didn't say anything throughout the entire explanation. As I looked at him, it looked like he was in deep thought.

“Amira, what made you so interested in these hats?” He asked, finally breaking his silence.

“W-Well…when they were first mentioned in class, I paid no mind to them. But then one day at Oshare’s shop, I saw the Red Puyo Hat just sitting there. I tried to grab it, but it wouldn’t budge. When I told my professor about it, he gave me this book and said to use it as long as I needed to. So, you could say that sparked my interest. Pretty amazing right, Lemres?”

"Interesting. Now I'm quite curious about how far on your research you've gotten."

“W-Wow, really?” Amira started to blush a little. “W-Well…I’ve only started about a month ago. S-So there really isn’t much. But I’ve already made a theory. If all the Puyo Hats were found somehow, what would happen if they were all reunited? The other four hats would have to be found in order to get such an answer, but it’s a good goal nonetheless. Right, Lemres?”

_Sis, you are trying **WAY** too hard…_

“Really impressive, Amira. You’ve really put a lot of effort into this.”

“ _Hehhehheh_. Thank you, Lemres.” Amira was blushing even more at this point.

“Woah. These hats are really something.” Lidelle said.

“I know right? What do you think, Amitie?”

…

“Amitie?”

Just like how Lemres was a few minutes ago, Amitie was completely lost in her own thought. I gave her a few soft nudges while continuing to call out her name.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. That was really something. Thanks for the info, Amira.”

“No problem, Amitie.” Amira said.

“In fact, it has me thinking about something.”

“Huh? About what?” I asked.

“What if…if we find the other four hats, this red one would come off?”

“Huh?” Lidelle and I were confused.

“I see where you’re getting at.” Lemres said. “You think that by reuniting these Puyo Hats, you’ll be able to get the red one off your head. Am I right?”

“Yeah, that’s it! Do you think it’s possible?”

“Well…it’s a start. What do you think, Amira?”

“No objection to that. If I can see all five hats at once, my research will be known across the world.”

“But, guys. We have no idea where the other hats are.” Lidelle said.

“Well if the red one was here for so long, then maybe the other colors are here too.”

“Yeah. I guess…what were the other colors again?”

“There’s a blue one, a green one, a yellow one, and a purple one.”

“Wow. It almost makes a rainbow.” I said.

"Yeah. A-And besides…if we find the Yellow Puyo Hat, I could give it to you, Raffina." Amitie said blushing through the whole thing.

“W-What? W-Why me? Wh-Why the yellow one?”

“I-I think you’ll look cute in it.”

“R-Really? Y-You think so?” Now I was the one blushing.

We both ended up staring at each other for a bit before looking away from each other with bright red faces.

“ _Steamy._ ” Amira said.

“ **Shut up, Amira!** ” I yelled at her.

 

After learning about the Puyo Hats from my sister, the three of us didn’t really do much besides walk around town. It was a good chance to show Amitie the rest of the area. So it wasn’t a complete waste of time.

Later that day, though, we had to go back to Amitie’s house so that Lidelle and I can get our stuff and return to our homes. It was a sad moment, but we really had fun together. It was also my first time hanging out with friends. Never thought it would be so fun. Especially with Amitie.

As I took a bath and laid in my bed, couldn’t stop thinking of all the fun I had with Amitie. Sure, there were those awkward moments.

But…

_Besides those, being with her that whole time…i-it felt really good. A-And that hug…it was the best one I’ve ever had. A-And the two nights where she cuddled me in her sleep. If I would’ve woke up in the middle of the night, I would’ve cuddled her too. It truly sucked that I had to come home tonight. I know that I’ll see her tomorrow, but I really wanted to stay with her. I just can’t get enough of her!_

I then felt my heart beating fast and my body feeling hot from the excitement I had in my mind. I tried to calm down a bit while drinking some of the water I had next to my bed, but my heart was still racing. Me thinking of Amitie that long…over such minor things. But with that, the awkward moments, and the talk I had with Lidelle…it all became clear to me. There was no point denying it now.

“ _I…I…I’m in love with Amitie. I-I really do love her. I love Amitie._ ”

I started getting sleepy from the excitement earlier and soon went to sleep with a smile across my face.

For the first time in my life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 4 more chapters to go until the rewrite is done. Having the number of chapters increase from 13 to 15 doesn’t seem much. But when you’re trying to write new stuff with the old AND trying to make both fit with each other, it will feel like a lot of work. Just saying.
> 
> Feel free to review, favorite, and/or follow the story. Thanks for reading. Later.


	12. Tarutaru's Secret

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *This chapter was edited. As some things were either added or removed from the original version.*

**Amitie’s POV**

 

“Seriously, Mom. This is why you don’t do all-nighters.”

“ _I already ***yawn*** told you, Ami. I'm ***yawn*** fine._ ”

“Yeah. Sure you are.”

The two of us were sitting on our futons eating breakfast. There wasn’t any more of Lidelle’s cooking from the sleepover. So it was back to eating instant ramen.

Mom worked on her light novel throughout the night and was barely staying awake. She’s really dedicated about this light novel. I would constantly ask her just what is it about, but she would always give the exact same answer:

“It’s a secret, Ami.”

**_*sigh*_ ** _This secret better be worth exhausting yourself like this, Mom._

“ _So, what ***yawn*** are you planning to do with ***yawn*** the hat?_ ” Mom asked.

"Oh, yeah. This thing." I didn't sound too happy about being reminded of this weird hat.

When we all got back to my house yesterday, we explained to Mom about the Red Puyo Hat, how it got stuck on my head, and about the other four hats. I didn’t really want to tell her about all this, but I’ve really gotten close with Mom since that **_incident_** that I really wish I could forget about. And I don’t want one simple lie to ruin it all.

Plus, even if I did lie about it, I’m pretty sure she’ll figure it out immediately after and claim it’s a _“_ mother’s instinct _”_ or something like that.

“I don’t know. We were going to start looking for the other four hats, but Raffina and Lidelle managed to convince me to first find out what this one does.”

“ _I ***yawn*** see._ ”

“You sure you’re okay?”

“ _Ami…I’m ***yawn*** fine. Really, I am._ ”

“If you say so…”

I got off my futon to throw away my empty ramen container then went to the front door to put on my shoes. I stood in front of the hallway mirror staring at the hat on my head. The hat blinked once, then closed its eyes and started moving in a relaxed state.

“What? You didn’t sleep either?” I asked. Not realizing that I was just talking to a hat.

The hat ignored me (like it could talk) continued to sleep. Or, so I thought it was sleeping. Because all of a sudden, the hat started to glow. And a red aura circled around me.

I was scared. I didn’t know what this hat was doing or what was happening.

When it all over, though, I felt…strange. Well, I wouldn't say strange. I actually felt refreshed. Like a sudden burst of energy just fused inside me. I looked at the hat again and its eyes were open again.

“ **Wh-What did you just do?!** ” I asked. Still not realizing that I’m talking to a hat.

The hat didn't do much except for its usual blinking. Still a little tensed, I grabbed my backpack and opened the front door.

“Mom, I’m leaving.” I called out to her.

But I didn’t get a response.

“Mom?”

I walked back into the living room to find Mom knocked out on her back with her instant ramen cup in one hand. I couldn’t help myself and started laughing at the once in a lifetime sight and then headed towards the front door again.

“ ** _*giggle*_** Goodnight, Mom.” I said as I left the house and closed the door.

 

It was still cold outside. With it being early January and all. So I was pretty much wearing the same clothes I wore on Friday.

And yes, they’re clean.

As I walked down the sidewalk heading for school, I spotted Raffina just up ahead. I made sure no cars were coming then crossed the intersection to catch up to her.

“Hey! Raffina!” I shouted.

“Oh. Morning, Amitie.” Raffina gave me a cheerful smile, then looked at the hat. “So, the hat’s still stuck huh?” She asked.

“Yeah. It was on my head all night. Kept my head warm, though.”

“Well, that’s nice. I guess.”

I looked around us and noticed that someone else wasn’t here with us.

“Hey, where’s Lidelle?”

“She has class duty, so she went to school earlier.”

“I see. So, it’s just the two of us huh?”

“Yep. Pretty much.”

…

…

We both stood there in silence and soon after turned our beat red faces away from each other. These strange feelings I get whenever I’m around Raffina just keep getting stranger. I still remember that talk I had with Mom. But since it ended with her suggesting that I ask Google for help, she wasn’t helpful at all.

I really like Raffina. I really do. But something’s telling me that…it’s more than just that.

“W-We should get going. D-Don’t want to be late.” Raffina stuttered after 3 ½ minutes of awkward silence and began to speed walk up the block.

“Y-Yeah.” Was all I was able to say.

Neither one of us said anything the remainder of the way there. My face was still blazing red from that embarrassment of a question I asked earlier. When I would be with the twins and Ayumi back home, I wouldn’t be getting these weird feelings. But with Raffina, something about her just makes it hard to be around her without feeling like a complete idiot.

The two of us reached the school and were walking down the hallway. There we saw Lidelle, who was carrying a bag full of trash that was nearly double her size.

“M-Morning, Lidelle.” We both stuttered.

“Good morning, you t- wow, what happened to you guys?” Lidelle asked once she saw our blushed faces.

“I-It’s nothing, Lidelle. W-We’re completely fine.” Raffina said. “J-Just a pair of friends walking to school together. _Oh, La-Ti-Da._ ”

“But both of your faces are red.”

“N-Nothing happened, Lidelle. A-Absolutely nothing.” I added.

…

…

…

“ **NOTHING!!!** ” We both shouted.

“I didn’t even say anything.”

_Great, I’m so worked up that I’m starting to hear things._

“A-Anyway, you need help carrying that bag, Lidelle?” Raffina asked.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. This thing is kinda heavy. Thanks, Raffina.

Raffina grabbed the bag from Lidelle and carried it over her shoulder. The three of us walked to the trash container outside where Lidelle and I watched as Raffina threw the bag inside.

_Gee, Raffina’s pretty strong. There’s no way I would be able to do that with my scrawny body._

“So what did Melody say about the hat, Amitie?” Lidelle asked as we were now walking back inside the school and were heading to the classroom.

“Not much. After you guys left she continued to work on her light novel. She ended up doing an all-nighter and was knocked out when I left the house this morning.”

“She was up all night? Geez, what’s this damn book about, anyway?” Raffina asked.

“She won’t tell me. But I can tell she’s really dedicated to finishing it.”

“Well, I don’t blame her. If her book gets published, it would mean serious income for you two.” Lidelle added.

“Yeah, true. I’m getting **_SO_** tired of instant ramen.”

We eventually made it to the classroom to find that once again, Ms. Accord wasn’t here yet. So it was just Klug and Tarutaru. While the latter didn’t bother to talk, the former didn’t hesitate to say something to us.

“Salutations, girls. No doubt you’re ready to witness true genius at work, I suppose?”

“Well it depends, Klug. When does the genius get here?” Raffina insultingly asked. Lidelle and I held in our laughs well enough for Klug to not notice.

“ **I’m the genius, you idiotic primate!** ”

“ **What the hell did you just call me?!** ”

“ **You heard me!** Oh wait, I forgot. You haven’t been trained to understand human language yet, haven’t you? So sad. _Kyahahahaha!_ ”

“ _You damn little…_ ”

“Why must you always insult Raffina like that?”

“Huh? What do you mean _insult_?” Klug asked as he turned to me. Looking upset that I even asked that question.

“I mean, why are you such a bully? You know that no one likes you, right?”

“A bully?! How am I a bully when everything I say about her is true?!”

“ ** _Everything?!_ Is this really how you treat a girl?!** ” I was starting to get really pissed off.

“A girl?! ** _Kyahahahaha!_** **You believe THAT primitive ape is one of us?! Let alone, a girl?! Damn, you really are a blonde! Because NOBODY would be able to make such a stupid remark like that!** _**Kyahahahaha!**_ ”

“ **SHUT THE HELL UP!** ” I shouted out of nowhere.

“ **What did you just say, you little…** ”

“ **YOU HEARD EXACTLY WHAT I SAID, YOU GODDAMN JERK!!! I’M NOT GOING TO SIT HERE AND LET YOU BULLY RAFFINA OR ANYONE ELSE ANYMORE!!!** ”

“A-Amitie…” Raffina was at a loss for words.

“ **Hmph! You need to learn your place, you damn brat!** ” Klug yelled.

“ _Child…?_ ”

“ _Child…?!_ ”

“ **THE ONLY CHILD HERE IS YOU, YOU DAMN MONSTER!** ”

“Monster?” Raffina and Lidelle asked.

This exact fight I was having with Klug…it triggered something. Something from my past. A memory of sorts. A memory that I know all too well…but wish I could forget.

***ONE MONTH AGO***

“ _G-Get away from her! Y-You jerk!_ ”

“ _What the hell did you call me?! You little brat!_ ”

I remember getting punched in the face and the force from it was so strong it sent me to the nearest wall of the house. A man was standing over me, ready to strike me again.

“ ** _LEAVE HER ALONE!_** ” I then remember hearing a woman’s voice that sounded familiar to me. The woman was in full distraught. Fear was coming from her shriveled up voice. It sounded like she was scared, no terrified of what was happening.

The man had run up to the woman and grabbed her by her shirt. He then picked her up and proceed to punch her in the face multiple times. Then he threw the woman at the same wall I was at as the both of us laid there in fear, pain, and sadness. 

“ _You girls… **YOU GIRLS NEED TO LEARN YOUR PLACE!!!**_ ** _NYAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!_** ”

That was the last thing I heard before passing out the floor.

The extreme anger I had for Klug suddenly turned into an absolute fear for my life. I could feel heavy tears coming down my eyes. These weren’t tears of sadness, nowhere close. These were tears of extreme fear.

“No… **NO! GET AWAY!!! DON’T HURT ME!!! LEAVE ME ALONE, YOU MONSTER!!!** " I screamed with every bit of fear I had and ran out of the classroom and eventually the school itself. Crying the hard tears of a terrified soul.

“Amitie!” I heard Raffina and Lidelle call my name.

But I didn’t stop. Neither did I turned around. I wanted to be alone. I needed to be alone. Being alone was the only safe thing for me to do…in this sudden hellish world.

 

**Raffina’s POV**

 

“ ** _I’M NOT GOING TO SIT HERE AND LET YOU BULLY RAFFINA OR ANYONE ELSE ANYMORE!!!_** ”

Those words…they kept spiraling in my head as me and the others tried to comprehend what just happened. I’ve only seen Amitie cry once before. The time when she first moved here last Friday. Her eyes were all red and puffy. Even though I was hiding in a bush, looking at it was rather unsettling. But back then, I figured that she was just sad about moving away from her home. The tears that I saw just now…they weren’t sadness. Those were tears of fear. Absolute fear. I actually felt my heart break after witnessing that. It was truly terrifying.

_Amitie…wh-what just happened?_

"Oh my. Does anyone know what happened to Amitie?" Ms. Accord asked as she and Popoi entered the classroom. Amitie had run past her on her way out of the school and she was really concerned.

That’s when I remembered what caused her to cry like that. And got extremely angry.

“ **It’s all Klug’s fault! He was talking crap to her and made her cry!** ” I yelled while pointing at the self-proclaimed know-it-all.

“ **What?! Me?! I didn’t do anything to that idiot!** ” Klug yelled back.

“ **You called her a child and told her she needs to “ _learn her place_** ” **! Who the hell talks to people like that?!** ”

“ **Only an immature jerk!** ” Lidelle joined in.

“ **She _is_ a child! And so are you two! The only reason I stay in this school is so I can BABYSIT you unintelligent brats!** ”

“ ** _Why you cocky little…_** ” I started tightening my fist in a fit of pure and uncontrollable rage.

“N-Now now, Raffina. L-Let’s not get too hasty…” Ms. Accord tried to intervene.

“ **NO! I’VE HAD IT WITH THIS DAMN SMARTASS TALKING CRAP TO PEOPLE LIKE HE’S F****** BETTER THAN US! I DON’T F****** CARE HOW MANY KICKS IT’LL TAKE, I’M GOING TO MAKE HIM RESPECT THE F*** OUT OF ME!!!**

“ _W-What…_ " Klug started trembling in fear as I winded up my leg for a strike. This was no joke. I really going to kick him, precisely in that nerdy little face of his. I was about to release my full power on Klug when all of a sudden…

“It’s not his fault.”

“Huh?”

This voice…it sounded familiar. I haven’t heard this particular voice in a long time. I was so shocked that I ended up putting my leg down and spared Klug’s life. All four of us looked at the far corner of the classroom where the big boy dressed in blue stood up and walked over to us.

“T-Tarutaru?! Y-You’re talking again?!” Lidelle was surprised to hear the voice of her old best friend after so long.

“I’m sorry for ignoring you so suddenly, Lidelle. I just…had some complicated stuff to deal with.”

“I’ve could’ve helped you, y’know! Why did you constantly avoid me this whole time?!”

“I stayed away from you because I didn’t want you to get involved in this mess!” Tarutaru yelled back at Lidelle. Then held his head down in shame.

“…But I guess that wasn’t enough to prevent this.”

All of us were more confused than a cat with a plastic cup stuck on its head. First, Amitie's sudden breakdown, now Tarutaru’s talking again?! Just what the hell is going on?!

“Wait a minute, Tarutaru. What are you talking about? How is it not Klug’s fault? **WHAT DO YOU KNOW?!** ” I was spouting questions left and right like I was a detective on those true crime shows.

“Please calm down, Raffina. I’m pretty sure Tarutaru will explain everything.” Ms. Accord said.

“F-Fine.” I didn’t want to accept this decision, but I also didn’t have a choice.

“Please continue, Tarutaru.”

“Yes, Ms. Accord.” Tarutaru answered then cleared his throat. “As I said before, This isn’t Klug’s fault for Amitie’s breakdown. But he does have some blame for it.”

“Geez. Make up your mind already. You just said that it’s not my fault, but now I’m to blame for it? what sense does that make?”

***POW***

“ _Ow!_ ”

I punched Klug in the arm as he complained about what Tarutaru just said.

_Whiney baby._

“Basically, he merely triggered a bad memory of hers.”

“A bad memory? What could that be?” Lidelle asked.

“I’m not sure. But I do know that it has something to do with Klug telling her that she needs to “know her place”.”

“Which she does.” Klug interjected. I leered at him with the most frightening look on my face which made cower in fear behind his book.

“You were saying?” I turned back to Tarutaru.

“Right. So, this memory of hers…I could tell that she wanted to forget it. But thanks to that Red Puyo Hat that’s on her head, she’s reliving that nightmare.”

“Th-The Red Puyo Hat?!” Lidelle and I both shouted. We didn’t think someone like Tarutaru would know anything about it. Then again, I had the same thought about Amira.

“Oh? You girls know about this Red Puyo Hat?” Ms. Accord asked.

“Y-Yeah. Amitie found the hat at Oshare’s store and after trying it on it wouldn’t come off. Since then, it’s been doing weird stuff.” I explained.

“Weird stuff like what, meow?” Popoi asked.

“Well…” Lidelle continued. “It would copy her emotions and grow a light aura matching that emotion.”

“Copy? Her emotions, meow?”

Tarutaru didn't say anything except let out a big, long sigh.

“Tarutaru…” Lidelle whimpered.

“If only I’ve gotten that hat first. This mess wouldn’t be happening.” He grumbled to himself.

“Hey, Tarutaru. How do you know about the Red Puyo Hat, anyway?” I asked.

Tarutaru did another big sigh before answering.

“I guess I can’t keep it a secret anymore.” He said.

Tarutaru took off the big blue hat from his head and held it in his hand. As we stared at it, the hat started to change shape. It eventually started to look like something Lidelle and I were way too familiar with.

“R-Raffina. I-Isn’t that…” Lidelle stuttered.

“N-No denying it! **It’s the Blue Puyo Hat!** ” I was shocked beyond belief. I didn’t think we would find one of these hats so easily.

“ **H-How do you have this?!** ” I asked.

“The Blue Puyo Hat is a family treasure passed down in my family for generations. It was given to me about a month ago. And I’ve kept it hidden from everyone after learning its power.”

“Its power?” We all asked.

“Whoever wears the Blue Puyo Hat will have the power to see other people’s futures.”

“See other people’s futures?” Lidelle asked.

“That doesn’t sound bad at all.” I said.

“You would think. But during a school trip one day, the hat kept showing me visions. Real depressing visions. Which led me to realize the hat was trying to tell me something. That someone was going to be in danger.”

“D-Danger?!” We asked.

_I-Is Amitie said person? Is she in danger? Did she know this whole time? And if so, why hasn't she told anyone?!_

“I tried all I could to prevent this. Spending day and night for the past month looking for the Red Puyo Hat. If I would've gotten it first, I could've stopped all this from happening. But I had no idea where it was. The fact that Amitie came to school wearing it…meant I was too late."

“Whoa. Tarutaru…” I was in disbelief. I always thought that he was kinda creepy at first. Then a jerk for ignoring Lidelle for her sexual orientation. But now…he was only a shut-in because he was trying to Prevent what’s happening right now. I truly had him all wrong all this time.

“So, that’s why you started avoiding everyone.” Lidelle said.

“I’m sorry if I hurt you, Lidelle. The visions themselves were just too terrifying for me to bring up to anyone. Plus, I didn’t think people would believe me.”

“No, really. I get it. I understand.”

“And, uh…I know your secret, Lidelle.”

“Y-You do?!”

_H-He does?!_

“Wait, what secret?” Klug asked.

“Like you have the right to know.” I said to him.

“Tarutaru. Is there a way to save Amitie from this memory? Or at least find her?” Lidelle asked.

“Well…my grandfather once told me that one hat has the power to find another if it’s not too far away.”

After hearing this, a bunch of thoughts rammed up my mind. All this time, Amitie was only pretending to be happy. When in reality, she still had some fear inside her. Whatever this bad memory is, she kept it to herself and believed that she could just forget it just like that.

 I’m mad at her for not telling me. But I’m pissed at myself for not noticing it on my own. I had to find her. I had to apologize. But I had no idea where to start looking.

Then I looked at the Blue Puyo Hat. While remembering what Tarutaru said earlier. It gave me an idea. A risky one, but I’ll take what I can get.

“Hey, Tarutaru. Can I use your hat?” I asked.

“Huh?!” He surprised that I would ask such a stupid and dangerous question.

“ **I need to find Amitie! I can't let her be alone any longer! And if that hat is the only way to find her, then I'm willing to deal with its dark power!** ” I said what I said. And meant every word, too.

“Raffina…” Lidelle whispered in admiration.

Tarutaru looked at the hat, then at me, and then back at the hat. He looked rather unsure of this idea of mine, which had me worried that he wasn’t going to give it to me.

“ ** _*sigh*_** Okay. Here.” He said as he handed over the hat.

As the Blue Puyo Hat stared at me with rapid blinks in between, I looked at it with sheer determination while gripping its sides with both hands.

"Alright, Blue Puyo Hat. Tell me where the Red Puyo Hat is!" I demanded then put the hat on my head. I soon started feeling a strange power run through my body. I closed my eyes and soon an image appeared in my mind.

_So that’s where she is._

I opened my eyes and let out a sigh of relief.

“Well, did you find her?” Lidelle asked.

“She ran to Nahe Forest.”

“Nahe Forest?! That place is haunted, meow!” Popoi said sounded scared.

“ **I’m still going! I’m not leaving Amitie behind!** ” I was more determined than ever to go and look for her. With the slight nods I got from everyone (well, mostly everyone), I turned and headed for the front entrance of the school.

“Lidelle, go and tell Melody what’s happened and bring her to the forest. We’ll meet you two there once I find Amitie.”

“Right!” Lidelle said as she saluted and then ran in the direction of the missing girl’s house.

“Raffina, please be careful.” Ms. Accord said.

“I will. Honest. If anything gets in my way, I’ll beat it down.”

“Good luck, Raffina.” Tarutaru said.

“Thank you, Tarutaru. I really owe you one.”

Klug didn’t say anything, but I couldn’t care less what that jerk had to say.

I headed out for Nahe Forest to start searching for Amitie. I not sure how far into the forest she’s gone at this point, but I’ll go as far as I need to.

_Hold on, Amitie! I’m coming to save you!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 3 more to go. And honestly, after looking back at them, they don’t need to be rewritten. It looked like how I would write now. They just need to be fixed grammar-wise and they’ll be posted sometime tomorrow. Until then, feel free to review, favorite, and/or follow the story. Thanks for reading. Later.


	13. The Twin Ghosts Are Super Relatable

**Amitie’s POV**

 

“ _P-Please…L-Leave us alone… **HAVE MERCY!**_ ”

“ ** _I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH!_** ”

I felt the tip of his shoe hit my stomach hard, bringing excruciating pain to it. It felt like I was going to puke everything I ate that day. I was crying in pain, begging him to stop. But he just kept on hitting me. Each hit getting harder and harder. I was pretty sure that I was bleeding internally at this point. I remember struggling to turn my head to where Mom was. I remember seeing that she was unconscious, bleeding from her head and bruises all over her body. It was a horrific sight that completely broke me.

“ _I-I’m sorry...mommy…_ ” _Were the last words I remember saying before falling unconscious myself._

“ _Why? Why is such a horrible memory…still in my mind? **WHY CAN’T I FORGET?!**_ ”

It took me a while to notice that I ended up in the middle of a dark forest. I was already filled with fear from these thoughts, and this atmosphere wasn’t making it better at all.

“ _Wh-Where am I? Wh-What is this place?_ ” I asked myself.

I had no idea which way I entered this forest. So I kept walking in one direction hoping to find an exit to anywhere but here. After what felt like an hour, I took a break and leaned against a nearby tree. As I stood there, the thoughts kept swarming my mind. And made me feel worse than before.

I felt pain in the same spots as I remember it. Like I was getting a second helping of that awful beating. I couldn’t move. The pain was too strong.

Too realistic.

Too…familiar.

All I could do was stoop down to the bottom of the tree, crying at the pain that somehow replicated the same exact feeling that happened one month ago.

I started tugging on my hat to cover my face from the tears, but it wouldn’t budge. I tried pulling harder, but it still didn’t move. I started getting angry and begun pulling it from the little flap at the top.

“ **This is all YOUR fault, you damn piece of fabric! Why you’d had to get stuck on MY head?! JUST WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?!** ”

Then all of a sudden I felt a weird power coming from the hat. I let go of it fearing what it’s going to do next. And then next thing I knew, I was being electrocuted. I tried to move, but with the little energy I currently had plus the high voltage running thru my body, I couldn’t move an inch.

I fell to the dirt covered ground unable to move. Surprisingly, I haven’t run out of tears. Because a bunch of them ran down my face as I felt my body shutting down.

“ _Th…This is it. Th-This is how…I die. I-I’ve had this…feeling before. O…O-Once…by my own father. A…A-And now by a…st...stupid hat that’s making me relive such a…nightmare. E-Everyone here…I’m going to miss them all._

_Mom…_

_Lidelle…_

_The others…_

_But most of all, I’m going to miss…her._

_R-Raffina…_

_I-I…I’m sorry…_ ”

I felt my thoughts, good and bad, go away as I lost conscious on the dirt ground. It would only be a matter of time before I would completely drop dead and leave this world that was once my home.

 

“ _Ow…my head. Wh-What…What happened?_ ”

I really don’t know how long I was unconscious. But when I came to, I found myself on what looked and felt like a bed. It was worn-out with some of its springs sticking out, but it was surprisingly comfortable. I tried to move around the bed, but my body was still weak from the pain the hat gave me.

Speaking of which…

I checked my head to see what the hat was doing…but I didn’t feel it. All I felt was my hair. It was gone. It was finally gone! That nuisance of a fashion accessory is finally off my head! I wanted to cry tears of joy! But I did so much crying beforehand that my eyes were red and puffy. So all I could do was hum to myself in blissfulness.

“Hey looky looky, Rei! I think she’s waking up!”

I heard what sounded like a girl’s voice coming from my left side. But when I looked over there nobody was there. Which left me confused.

“Don’t get too close, Yu. You’ll scare her.”

Now I heard what sounded like a boy’s voice coming from the opposite direction. But when I managed to turn my head, it was the same outcome as before. I was starting to get scared. I had no idea where these voices were coming from and I was starting to believe that I was losing my mind.

“ _H-Hello? W-Who’s there?_ ” I asked.

But didn’t get an answer.

“ _C-Come out already! This isn’t funny!_ ”

Still no answer.

I used the little energy I gained from lying down and sat on the edge of the bed. I looked around the area I was at (which was an old abandoned house) and didn’t see a single person within my view.

“ _Hello? Anyone here? I could use some help…_ ” I called out again thinking I was going to get the same outcome. But then…

“Yu rang?”

“ **GAAAAHHH!** ”

All of a sudden, something appeared right in front of me. It looked like a girl. She had a turquoise hair color and purple eyes. She was wearing a white cloak type thing with what looked like a face drawn on the hood. I looked down to her feet to see that she didn’t have any. Wait…

“ **Y-You don’t have any legs!** ” I shouted.

“Well, duh. It’s kinda normal for us to not have legs.” The girl said.

“ _N-Normal? A-Are you a…_ ”

“Ghost? Indeedy.”

“ _S-So, if you’re a ghost, and I can see you, then that means…_ ”

“Indeedy.”

“ **I DIED!** ”

“Indee-wait, what? No!”

“H-Huh?”

“You’re still alive. It’s just that everybody can see us.”

“Uh…us?” I asked while tilting my head.

“Yeah. Us.”

…

“B-But there’s no one behind you.”

“Huh?”

The ghost girl turned around to see that I was right and that there was nobody else in the room we were in. Again, so I thought.

“Hey, Rei! Stop being so shy! Come on out already!” The girl shouted.

Soon after, another ghost appeared right next to the first one. Other than the fact that it was a boy with blue hair that covered his eyes, the two looked completely identical to each other.

“Woah. Are you guys twins?” I asked.

“Indeedy! I’m Yu!” The girl replied.

“I’m Rei.” The boy said after.

“And we’re the super popular twin ghosts of Primp Town!”

“Super popular.”

The two ghosts flew around the room and did a funny looking pose with one of their arms crossing each other and pointing to the ceiling. I found it hilarious as I giggled a bit.

“I’m Amitie. Nice to meet you two.”

“Amitie. Name really fits you.” Yu said.

“Really? How so?”

“It means “friend” in French.” Rei answered.

“Oh, yeah. I remember Mom telling me that.”

After giggling for a bit at the response I made, I looked around the place I was at. An old abandoned house with a bunch of holes in the floor and walls. It also had more cobwebs than my house did when we first moved here. And despite being dark outside (even though it was morning when I left the school) there was enough light to fill the whole house.

“Hey, guys? So, what is this place?” I asked.

“This is our home. We brought you here after finding you unconscious in the middle of the forest.” Yu said.

“R-Really?! Thank you both! You saved my life! But…”

“You’re wondering where your hat is, right?”

“Y-Yeah.”

“We have it.” Rei answered.

“How’d you get it off?”

“We used a spell that only ghost can use. We’ve learned it a long time ago.” Yu answered.

“Um, okay then.” I didn’t want to question that.

“Amitie…How did you get that hat, anyway?”

What Yu asked me was a huge surprise. First, she and Rei were able to get it off my head, now she’s asking how I got it? Is it possible that…

“I-It was in Oshare’s shop. I tried it on and it never came off until now.” I replied.

“I see. Did it do anything weird since then?”

“Well…it copied my emotions by glowing a strange hue that matched the emotion I was feeling…”

“Uh-huh…”

“Then earlier today, the hat glowed differently and it ended up restoring my energy…”

“Okay…”

“Then… that hat… _that damn hat…_ ” I started tearing up when trying to remember the third thing the hat did to me.

“Amitie…you okay?” Rei asked. He sounded concerned, but I couldn’t really tell from his face.

“ _Y-Yeah…it’s just…that hat…It made me remember horrible stuff from my past. And when I tried to take it off myself, it electrocuted me._ ”

“That’s what I wanted to hear.” Yu said.

“Wh-What do you mean?”

“These memories…You were assaulted, were you?” Yu asked, which took me off guard.

“Y-Yeah. Me and my mom.” I said.

“And it was by your dad, wasn’t it?”

All I did was a simple nod.

“Thought so.” Yu said.

“Yu, how do you know about the hat and what it did to me?” I asked.

Yu didn’t say anything. Instead, she turned to look at Rei, who had the same worried(?) look from before. He gave Yu a simple nod, which made her smile, and returned the nod before turning back to me.

“You see…a long time ago…we too were assaulted.”

“ **R-Really?!** ” I shouted.

"It was our dad who did it. We were left alone with him, and he had a serious drinking problem. He got angry at us for accidentally breaking something, and he took the punishment too far."

“W-Wait, you don’t mean…”

“Yeah. He ended up killing us in the process.”

For a moment, I was speechless. While Mom and I were lucky enough to survive our attack, these two actually **DIED** from theirs. I felt lucky to be alive, but at the same time…I felt sorry for Yu and Rei, who used to be normal twin kids. But now live their lives as twin ghosts.

“I-I’m sorry.” I managed to say.

“Don’t be.” Rei said.

“Rei’s right.” Yu added. “It may have cost us our lives, but we’re glad that we’re finally free from that torturous nightmare. We could finally live in peace after so long.”

“ ** _Live_** in peace? I thought it was **_rest_** in peace.”

“Well…yeah, it is. But for us it’s different.”

“How so?”

"When we became ghosts, we had no memory of what happened when we were alive. We were lost in this forest, cold and afraid. We didn't know what to do. But then, we found this hat that was similar to yours. It was purple and had big eyes that kept blinking.

_A purple hat that kept blinking? It couldn’t be…_

"Out of curiosity, I put the hat on my head and it started doing weird stuff. Eventually, it made me remember what happened that night and how we became ghosts. It was too painful and scary to relive so I tried to take it off, but it wouldn’t budge. We kept pulling on it with all our might, but then it suddenly electrocuted us, and we fell unconscious.”

“Just like what happened to me.” I said.

“We then woke up in this house, which just happened to be the same house we lived in when we were alive.”

“ **S-Seriously?!** ”

“Yeah.” Rei Replied.

“The hat made us relive all sorts of memories based on this house. Some good, some bad, and then that one memory. Despite that one memory, we’ve lived here ever since. And locked the hat away so it wouldn’t hurt anyone else again. But when we found you in the forest, we realized that there was more than one hat.”

“Wow. That’s some story.” I said.

“Yeah.” Rei replied.

“So, the Red Puyo Hat is locked away with the Purple Puyo Hat?”

"Yes, but not in the same container. We don't know what will happen if they were all together, and don't want to risk it." Yu explained.

“Yeah, that makes sense.” I agreed.

“Sorry for bombarding you with questions, but do you mind if I ask one more?”

“Don’t apologize. You saved my life. I owe you. So, if you need to know anything about the hat, ask away.”

“Wow, okay. Well…what happened after the hat brought back those memories?”

I thought about it for a bit. Most of it was a total blur. Except for one thing.

“Well…I remember running out my school crying. And my friend was calling out to me.”

“Your friend?”

“Y-Yeah. She’s nice and sweet and caring. Strong, too. And…” I started blushing while I was describing Raffina, my best friend(?). Then something slipped out that I wish it didn’t.

“ _…A-And she’s really cute._ ” I whispered.

“What was that last thing?” Yu asked.

“N-Nothing!”

“Liar.” Rei said.

“I-I’m not lying!”

“ _Ooo_. _I get it now._ ” Yu spoke again.

“G-Get what?! Th-There’s nothing to get! J-Just drop it, already!”

“You don’t have to hide it. **_*giggle*_** _._ ” She teased.

“ **THERE’S NOTHING TO HIDE!** ” I yelled. I was making the same face as the hat would make when copying my emotions. I wanted to make Yu stop teasing me, but as I was going to…

“ ** _KYYAAAA!_** ”

“Woah, what was that? It sounded like a girl’s scream.” Yu asked.

“It came from outside.” Rei replied.

“Probably from the forest. Come on, Rei! Let’s go look!”

“Kay.”

The two ghosts flew out the house and headed for the forest.

“Wha? Guys, w-wait up!” I shouted as I ran after them. They flew so fast. Not surprisingly, since they are ghosts. But I did manage to catch up to them, as they were standing (well, floating) at this spot next to a tree.

“Hey, Amitie…do you know this girl?” Yu said with a worried look on her face.

I walked up next to the two of them to see who they were looking at. And I nearly started crying at what I was seeing.

“ **Oh My God.** **That’s Raffina!** ”

It truly was Raffina. Bruised up, passed out, and wearing a blue hat on her head.

“ **Guys Help me carry her!** ”

Yu, Rei, and I each grabbed a part of Raffina and started carrying her back to the house. The whole way there, I was in extreme panic.

_Wh-What the hell is she doing here?! A-And where did she get that hat?! ***whine*** Raffina! Please! Please don’t die!_

_I still…have to tell you._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said, no rewriting for this chapter. Just some grammar fixes. Next two will be the same way. Feel free to review, favorite, and/or follow the story. Thanks for reading. Later.


	14. Released Secrets

**Raffina’s POV**

 

 

_Ow…my head. No…my entire body is in pain. How did I end up like this? I don’t even remember getting hurt. All I do remember was going to the forest to save…_

_Amitie…_

_Amitie…_

“ **AMITIE!!!** ” I shot up from what felt like a bed and looked at my surroundings.

“ **H-Huh?! Wh-Where am I?! Wh-What the hell is this place?!** ”

It looked like I was in some kind of old abandoned house with holes everywhere and more cobwebs than when Amitie and Melody moved here. I tried getting off the bed, but my body was aching like crazy. The most I could do was sit on the edge of the bed. I rubbed my the top of my head from a massive headache I somehow had when I noticed something was missing.

“Wait…the hat. **Where’s the hat?! Aw damnit! I Lost it! How the hell am I going to find Amitie now?!** ”

Right when I finished freaking out, I heard footsteps coming from outside the room I was in. Normally, I wouldn’t be scared right now. But with my body being in so much pain, I can’t do anything to fight back if I need to. So I didn’t have a choice **but** to be scared. Then the door began to slowly creek open.

At this point, I was terrified. I had no idea who was behind the door, or more importantly, who brought me here. So I was really prepared for the worse. The door fully opened and in came the one person I did not expect but was so happy to see.

“Raffina…?”

“Amitie…?”

“ **YOU’RE OKAY!!!** ” We both yelled.

Amitie then came charging towards me and hugged me tight with both arms around me. I did the same and we held each other for what felt like an hour. When it was actually about a half minute. That's how long it took us to notice what we were doing, and we let go of each other with our faces beat red from embarrassment.

“I-I’m glad you’re safe, Amitie.” I said to break the awkward silence.

“W-Well, I-I’m glad you’re not seriously hurt, Raffina. When we found you, it looked like you were a goner.”

“Huh? **_We_**? What do you mean **_we_**?”

"Yu rang?" Then out of nowhere, a ghost of a girl appeared in front of us.

“ **GAAHHH!** ” I screamed.

“Yeah. She did the same thing to me too.” Amitie said trying to comfort me.

“Huh? You mean you know her?”

“Indeedy! I’m Yu! Nice to meet you!” The ghost said.

_Someone’s a bit too cheerful…_

“Uh…my name’s Raffina. Nice to meet you as well.”

“Hey, Yu. Where did Rei go?” Amitie asked.

“He went to find the first-aid kit. It’s been a long time since we used it, so it would take a while.”

“Yeah. That makes sense.”

“Wait, who’s Rei?” I asked.

“I’m Rei.” Then suddenly, like if it was almost timed or something, a ghost of a boy popped up right next to Yu holding a first-aid kit.

“ **GAAAHHH!** S-Seriously! Stop doing that! You’re going to give me a heart attack!”

“Sorry.” Rei apologized.

“Yeah, sorry. Anyway…this is Rei, my twin brother.”

“You guys are…twins?”

“Indeedy.”

“Yeah.”

The more I looked at the two ghosts, the more confused I got. I honestly didn’t see the resemblance of the two but didn’t want to tell them that.

_I wonder. Are they…fraternal twins?_

“Yes, we are fraternal twins.” Yu suddenly spat out.

“ **H-Huh?! W-Wait! D-Did you just…** ”

“Read your mind? Indeedy! We ghosts gain this power when we die. It’s proven to be very useful.”

“ _R-Really, now?_ ” I didn’t want to question such a claim.

I could hear Amitie giggling next to me at my creeped out confusion. Which honestly made me happy a little. Unfortunately for her, Yu also noticed.

“Aw, Amitie. You think Raffina’s confusion is cute. How sweet.” She said.

“Sweet.” Rei followed.

“ **W-W-W-WHAT??!!!!!** ” Amitie shouted in shock. Yu and Rei had read her mind as well and hearing her thought become words really took a toll on me. My cheeks were burning red now. Hearing that Amitie thought me being confused was cute…my heart won’t stop pounding now. God, these new feelings are killing me.

“ **G-Guys! S-Stop reading our minds! It’s an invasion of privacy!** ” Amitie yelled. Her cheeks were just as red as mine.

“ _Sorry._ ” Yu was laughing in hysterics at our flushed faces while Rei stood next to her with only a smile.

“Geez.” Amitie said with a sigh.

“Anyway…let’s get you two bandaged up, shall we?” Yu said.

After the ghost had bandaged up the necessary spots, they offered us some snacks and drinks (apparently ghost still need to eat and drink in order to survive. Go figure) and we ate some to replenish our health. While eating, I noticed that Yu was staring at me with a serious look on her face, which creeped me out a little.

“What?” I asked.

“Raffina, we need to talk.” Yu said with a serious tone.

“Oh boy. I know where this is going.” Amitie said.

“Huh? Talk about what?”

“That hat you came here with. It was really careless of you to wear it in the first place.”

“ **C-Careless?! I was trying to find Amitie! How is _that_ careless?!** ” I immediately got angry at the fact that how Yu actually said that.

“Because you almost **DIED** while doing so.”

“Wh…What?”

_Did she say what I think she said? I…almost died?! H-How?! How was I close to dying?!_

“The same thing happened to me.” Amitie added.

“R-Really?!”

“W-Well…t-twice.”

“Twice?! Wait, when was the first time?!”

Amitie shook her head then turned to face Yu.

“Hey, guys. Can we have some time alone?” She asked. Yu understood completely and disappeared out of the room, and Rei soon followed. Once they were gone, Amitie faced me again and let out a big long sigh.

“Raffina…I have to be honest with you. There’s a reason why Mom and I moved to Primp. And you’re not going to like it.”

“Amitie. Whatever it is, you can tell me. I’m your best friend. I’ll completely understand.” I said without even giving it a thought, which was probably a mistake.

“R-Really? Um, okay. W-Well…” Amitie stuttered a bit while looking down on the floor.

“Amitie. It’s okay.”

Amitie raised her head up and looked at me with a quick smile. All I could think about was how cute it was to see her smile. But that smile quickly disappeared and went back to a frown as Amitie was about to say something.

“Y-You see…me and my mom…w-we were assaulted.”

My face turned to shock.

“B-By…my father.” She continued.

As Amitie continued to explain what her father was like and the things he did to them, I started to tear up. What she went through during that time and the effect it had on her…I knew something was wrong with her the moment I laid eyes on her. And I even had some suspicions of my own. But then at some point, I brushed it off like it was nothing.

_What the hell? **What kind of friend does that?! I truly am the worst!**_

“ _I’m sorry_ …”

“ _I’m sorry_ …”

“ _I’m sorry_ …”

I kept whispering these words over and over while trying to hold back my tears. That’s when I felt two arms wrap around me and brought me closer to Amitie. She had pulled me into a hug and I was about to lose it.

“Why are you apologizing?” Amitie asked in a soothing tone.

“ _B-Because…I-I failed to notice your suffering and…_ ” I was having a hard time talking because I was on the brink of emotional collapse.

“No…it’s my fault for not telling you guys earlier. I thought I could keep this hidden inside me and forget it, but…”

At that moment I felt tears running down my shoulder.

“ ** _I didn’t think it would almost kill not only me, but you as well! Raffina! I’m the one who should be sorry! Please forgive me!_** ” Amitie bellowed out crying full hard tears over my shoulder.

“ ** _Amitie!_** ” And I immediately did the same.

We were crying so much that we didn’t notice Yu and Rei had come back into the room. When we did, we calmed down a little so we could talk better.

“ _Yu. Rei. Thank you both for saving our lives. But we really need to get home now._ ” I said in a weak and teary state.

“ _Aw, leaving so soon?_ ” Yu whined.

“Yeah, we really need to. My mom doesn’t know I’m here.” Amitie added.

“Alright. We’ll show you the way out, right Rei?”

“Sure.” Rei answered.

The four of us left the somewhat abandoned house and walk down a path in the forest. After a 30-minute walk, we were able to see the exit at the end of the path, then Yu and Rei turned to face us.

“This is as far as we can go. You guys will have to walk the rest of the way there.” Yu said.

“Huh? You guys don’t want to meet everybody?” Amitie asked.

“Well, we would. But…we’re ghosts. We…kinda have a reputation, you know.”

“Oh…right.”

Amitie turned to look at me and I gave her a smile. She smiled back at me then faced the ghost duo again.

“Well, it was nice meeting the two of you. Thanks again for rescuing us.”

“Yeah. I hope we could see each other again.” I added.

We each said our final goodbyes and me and Amitie started walking down the remaining path to the exit. While walking, I noticed that Amitie still didn’t have the Red Puyo Hat with her.

“Hey, Amitie? What happened the that Red Puyo Hat?” I asked.

“Oh, it’s at Yu and Rei’s house. While I was unconscious, they managed to get the hat off. And they’re keeping it under lock and key at their place.” She explained.

“Oh…” I looked straight forward trying to utter the next phase out of my mouth.

“ _Y-You do look cuter without it._ ” I said while blushing.

“ _O-Oh. R-Really? Th-Thanks, Raffina._ ” Amitie was blushing as hard as I was while stuttering her response. “Oh, that reminds me…”

“Reminds you of what?” I asked.

“When we found you…you were wearing the Blue Puyo Hat. How did you find it so quickly?”

“Well, to be honest…it’s Tarutaru’s”

“What?! Really?!” Amitie sounded surprised.

“Yeah. He said it’s a family treasure passed down for generations. It’s said that the Blue Puyo Hat can let the wearer see the futures of other people. Which is why he kept his distance from everyone.”

“Oh, wow.”

“Hopefully, he doesn’t mind that I’m coming back without it.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine.” Amitie said with confidence.

Hearing her say that really made me feel better. Hopefully, I'll get to explain to Tarutaru why I left the hat there.

“Yeah, you’re right.” I responded.

 

After a few more minutes of walking, we were able to reach the forest exit, where a few people were waiting for us.

“They’re coming, meow!” yelled Popoi.

“Amitie! Raffina!” shouted Lidelle.

“Hey, everyone.” we both said as we exited the forest.

“ **AMITIE!!!** ” Then we were blindsided when Melody came at Amitie and held her in what looked like a really tight hug.

“ **YOU DON’T KNOW HOW MUCH I WAS WORRIED ABOUT YOU!!! WHEN LIDELLE TOLD ME YOU RAN CRYING TOWARDS A FOREST I THOUGHT I’D LOST YOU!!!** " she yelled while crying as a scared mother should.

Which to be honest, was a total shock to me.

“ _Mom. I’m sorry for making you freak out so much, but I really can’t breathe right now._ ” Amitie said with the few remaining oxygen she had.

“Oh. *** _sniff_ *** Sorry.” Melody had let go of Amite and she was taking deep breaths to regain some air.

“Well then, I’m glad the two of you are safe.” Ms. Accord said cheerfully.

"Thank you, Ms. Accord." I replied. At that moment, I heard a familiar voice yelling from far away.

“ **RAFFINA!!!”** It was Amira. I was actually surprised to see her here.

“Amira?! What are you doing here?” I asked.

“ **What do you mean** “ **What am I doing here?!** ” **Do you know how worried Lily and I were?!** ” she said angrily.

“Y-You?! Were worried about me?!”

“ **Well, duh! I mean, you ARE my little sister! I have to protect you no matter what, don’t I?!** ”

…

…

“Who are you, and what have you done to my older sister?” I asked.

“ _Oh, very funny!_ ”

“But still…thanks for coming to find me, Amira. You really are reliable.”

“Wh-What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“ ** _*giggle*_** Nothing.”

“When then, everyone. It’s getting late. I believe it’s time we all headed home.” Ms. Accord said.

“Okay.” We all agreed.

 

After everybody had gone home, Lidelle and I packed an overnight bag and walked over to Amitie’s house. When we got there, Amitie and I took our baths while Lidelle and Melody went to get dinner. After our baths, the two of us were sitting on our futons recalling everything that had happened the past few days. That’s when Amitie started talking.

“Hey, Raffina…”

“Yeah, Amitie?” I replied.

“You know…when I was unconscious, I had some thoughts.”

“Really? About what?” I asked.

“Thoughts about me moving here with Mom, going to a new school, meeting all sorts of new friends…and Klug.”

We both laugh at the joke a little, then Amitie continued on.

“They were good memories, but the huge majority of those memories were with you.”

“With me?”

“Yeah. The day we first saw each other, our first school day together, the sleepover. Even with the whole Puyo Hat madness, I still had fun whenever you were around.”

“You know, I’ve felt the same way too, Amitie.” I said. We were both blushing, but not because of embarrassment. We both felt really happy at the moment. I never want this mood to end.

“So during those last few moments of the hat being stuck on my head…after all the bad stuff it’s done to me, it did do one good thing. It made me realize something.”

After saying that, Amitie held both of my hands and looked straight at me in the eyes. My heart was racing at this point. For the first time in my life, I had butterflies in my stomach.

Then…she said it. she said the words that I never knew how to say myself but wanted to say to her.

“Raffina…I love you.”

I felt my heart beating like crazy. I’ve never felt this way for anyone before. Let alone, another girl. I guess Lidelle was right when she didn’t want to help me. Because figuring it out yourself feels so much better.

“Amitie…I love you too.” I said back.

Tears were falling down our faces as we held each other tightly close together. Then we looked at each other, eyes still filled with tears, and smiled hugely.

“Sh-Should we…kiss?” I asked.

“Y-Yeah.” Amitie replied.

We brought our heads closer and closer until…our lips had touched. It was such a passionate first kiss. Amitie’s lips felt so soft. It felt like I was kissing a piece of slime. Only more logical. And it felt right.

After what felt like a blissful 20 minutes (even though it was actually 10x less than that), we parted our lips and stared at each other out of amassment.

“ _Wow…_ ” We both said.

“ **Oh, I’m so proud of you, Ami! You finally came out of the closet!** ” We heard Melody’s voice and turned to see her standing near the hallway.

“ **M-Mom?! Wh-When did you get back here?!** ” Amitie asked in shocked.

“Around the time you said, _‘I love you’_. Melody replied.

“Geez. Way to kill the mood.”

“I tried holding her back as long as I could.” Lidelle said as she entered the living room.

“Well, at least you tried, Lidelle.” I said.

“But how could I miss something so exciting as my daughter confessing to her first love?” Melody asked.

“ **Mom!** ” Amitie shouted.

"Alright, alright."

“Anyway, can we eat now? I’m starving.” I said.

"Yeah, me too. I haven't really eaten much all day." Amitie agreed.

“Sure, sure. Here’s some pizza for the lovely lesbo lovers.” Melody answered.

“Are you going to tease me about this now?”

“Yep, pretty much.”

“Meanie.”

“Silly.”

We all laugh it off and we ate the pizza brought home for dinner.

 

Later that night, I found myself staring at the ceiling reminding myself of what happened just a few hours ago. Each time I did, I would laugh a little while covering my mouth, because everyone else was sleeping at the time. Well, most of them.

“ _What are you laughing at?_ ” Amitie whispered as she turned to me.

“ _Oh, sorry. Did I wake you?_ ” I asked her.

“ _No, not really. I wasn’t asleep, anyway._ ”

“ _Well, that’s good._ ”

Amitie scooted over towards me and gave me a small peck on the lips as she snuggled up against me.

“ _I’m really glad you became my girlfriend, Raffina._ ”

I smiled and returned the kiss to her.

“ _The feeling’s mutual, Amitie. It really is._ ” I said to her.

We both snuggled up against each other and fell asleep within each other’s arms.

In pure peaceful bliss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No changes here, either. The last chapter will be the same way. Thanks for reading. Later.


	15. Final Love of Puyo Puyo

**Amitie’s POV**

 

 

It’s been a little over 4 months since Raffina and I confessed our feelings for each other and became a couple. The days have been nothing more but pure blissfulness. Mainly because I been spending them with my mom, my friends, and most important of all, the love of my life.

Today, on the other hand, was more than just a blissful day. As today was May 5th, which just happens to be my birthday.

The day started off like normal. And by normal, I mean trying to wake Mom up because she slept thru the alarm…again.

 _“Oh…hey, Ami. Happy Birthday!_ ” she said, still half asleep.

“Geez, Mom. You’re not going to sleep through my birthday, are you?”

“What? No! Why would you think that?!”

“Because you’ve been doing all-nighters non-stop since you’ve started writing this light novel that I still know nothing about.”

Mom took a deep sigh then sat up from her futon.

“Well, you don’t have to worry anymore, Ami. I’ve actually finished the light novel.”

“W-Wait, you did? When?”

“Just last night. I just have to re-read it to make sure there aren’t any mistakes and then send it to my boss.”

“Have you even met your boss yet?”

“Well…no. But a friend of mine said he’s nice and really wise.”

“What?! **_You_** have friends?! Oh, Mom, I’m so proud of you!” I shouted sarcastically.

“That was uncalled for.” Mom pouted.

“It’s payback for you teasing me and Raffina all the time.”

“Whatever.”

After spending another 5 minutes trying to wake Mom up again (because she fell back asleep when I was in the shower), we were sitting on our futons eating something other than instant ramen for a change. Ever since Raffina and I started dating, Raffina's been really persistent on buying us groceries and stuff for us. Of course, Mom kept refusing. But eventually, she gave in. And so today, we were eating homemade pancakes with bacon and eggs as side dishes.

“Aren’t you glad you let Raffina help us, Mom?” I asked her while cutting a piece of the pancakes.

“I guess…still doesn’t feel right to have a 16-year-old girl do food shopping for a 33-year-old woman.” Mom replied with discouragement.

“You’re forgetting that said 16-year-old girl is also my girlfriend.”

“Yeah, but…”

As Mom was about to explain what she meant with that thought of hers, the doorbell rang, and I got up to answer it.

“ **HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMITIE!!!** ” Shouted Raffina and Lidelle as I opened the door.

“Aw, thanks guys!” I said as I hugged the two of them. Then I kissed Raffina and we nuzzled up against each other.

"Uh, guys…I'm still here." Lidelle reminded us. I then broke off the group hug and Raffina and I started rubbing the back of our heads out of embarrassment.

“S-Sorry, Lidelle.” We both said.

“You guys really need to tone it down with the public affections. It’s a bit much, even if you were straight.”

“I can’t help it. Every time I’m with Raffina, I feel so happy inside that I end up doing…well…that.”

“Same here…but Lidelle’s right, Amitie. We have been a little **too** affectionate lately.” Raffina said.

“Yeah…we’ll try to moderate the lovey-doveyness for you okay, Lidelle?”

“D-Don’t call it that, Amitie!” Lidelle said as she suddenly started blushing.

“Wow, Lidelle. This is the first time I’ve actually seen you blush.” I noted.

“W-What?”

“Yeah, me too. It’s actually kinda cute.” Raffina added.

“Can we get a picture with you? It’s too cute to pass up a photo.” I asked.

“ **S-Seriously, you guys! K-Knock it off!** ” Lidelle said as she hid her faces with her sleeves.

“ **SO CUTE!!!** ” We both squealed.

“Ami, shouldn’t you be heading to school now?” Mom said as she walked up to the front door, still eating the pancakes that she was against having a 16-year-old girl buy for her in the first place.

“Morning, Melody. I see you’re enjoying the breakfast that I, a 16-year-old girl, bought for you. Is it better than eating instant ramen every day?” Raffina asked sarcastically with a smug on her face.

“Not you too, Raffina.” Mom sighed.

“You’ve been teased this morning, too?” Lidelle asked Mom.

“Yeah, but I kinda deserved it for teasing them about their relationship.”

“At least you’re honest about it…”

“Anyway, Mom, we’ll be at the sweets parlor after school to get ready for the party. You do know how to get there, right?” I asked.

“Ami, we’ve been here for a month. I’m pretty sure I can figure out my way thru this town at this point.” Mom said while sounding annoyed.

“Ok, ok. I was just asking.”

“But…I’ve got to run some errands before I go there.”

“Huh? What errands?”

“It’s a secret, Ami.”

I actually got a little nervous after hearing that.

“And no, it doesn’t involve me endangering my health. So you don't have anything to worry about, Ami." Mom said with a smile.

"I-I wasn't thinking that! But good. See you later, then.” I said as I turned around and started running down the block.

“A-Amitie! Wait for us!” Raffina yelled as she started running to catch up to me.

“Guys! Wait! You know I can’t run that good!” Lidelle shouted while struggling to catch up.

“Have fun, girls.” Mom said as she waved us goodbye. Again, still with the pancakes that a 16-year-old girl bought for her.

 

After we reached the school, we had to get Lidelle some water because she nearly passed out on the way here. When she was all well again, we went to the classroom where, yet again, Ms. Accord wasn’t there and talked a little while waiting for class to begin.

“Hey, Lidelle. Have you heard from Tarutaru recently?” Raffina asked.

“Yes, actually. He emailed me last night. Said that he’s doing fine but doesn’t know when he’ll be back sadly.” Lidelle said.

“It sucks that I never got to meet him. I wanted to thank him for helping me out earlier.” I added.

A few days after the whole Puyo Hat incident, Tarutaru had moved away because apparently he wasn’t supposed to tell anyone about the Blue Puyo Hat. I was the last to know this because I stayed home for a week to recover from my injuries. Lidelle has been keeping in touch with him, sending and receiving emails on a weekly basis. In the meantime, it’s just me, Raffina, Lidelle, and Klug. Speaking of the later…

“Y’know, Klug’s been really silent lately. I wonder what’s with him?” I asked.

“Well from what I heard, Klug felt really bad for making you cry like that. I’ve also heard that many of the other students have been blaming him for what happen to you.” Lidelle explained.

“Although he sort of deserves it, it isn’t entirely his fault.” Raffina said.

“Yeah.” I agreed. “I should go talk to him.”

“Really? Are you sure?” Raffina asked.

“Well, I mean why not? Like you said, it isn’t entirely his fault. I feel bad that he honestly thinks that.”

“You’re a really caring person, Amitie.” Lidelle said.

“Which is one of the reasons why I fell in love with you.” Raffina added.

“Th-Thanks, guys.” I blushed lightly with a smile on my face.

Then as if the whole thing was timed perfectly, Klug walked in the classroom and sat in his desk with his head on the table. All without saying a word, which that in itself was unlike him. He would usually walk in boasting about great he was and throw insults at Raffina, which would lead to them arguing. Now he’s just wallowing in his desk in silence.

“Wow, Amitie. You weren’t kidding when you said Klug’s been acting weird.” Raffina whispered.

I got up from my desk and walked over to Klug, who from what it looks like…was sleeping.

“Hey, Klug?” I said while nudging his shoulder to wake him up. When he raised his head up from his desk, I noticed that he had dark circles under his eyes.

_Has he not been sleeping?_

“Oh…Hey, Amitie. I see you’re feeling better.” Klug said with an exhausted tone.

_Not even a salutations? Something really is wrong with him._

“Y-Yeah. Much better.” I said.

“Well, I’m glad you’re okay now.” Klug said with a faint smile.

“I wish I could say the same thing about you, Klug.” I said.

“Huh? What do mean?”

“You know **exactly** what I mean! I mean, look at you! You look exhausted and your eyes are black!”

Klug looked away from me and sighed. “I was hoping you wouldn’t notice.”

“Klug…what happened to you?”

“Well, I’m sure you already know this, but ever since that day when you left the school crying, rumors have started that I bullied you to your breaking point. Since then, I’ve been getting tons of hate mail and even death threats from total strangers. I’ve been living in constant fear for my life, which has lead to me having sleepless nights. I didn’t even want to come to school today, but my parents didn’t give me a choice.”

I was trying to hold back my tears...but failed to when they started to fall down my face. Raffina and Lidelle, who were listening in the background, were also in shock. Nobody should have to live in constant fear like this. Not me, not Mom, not even someone like Klug.

“K-Klug, why didn’t you say anything?” I asked.

“Oh, please. Why the hell would **ANYONE** help the boy who supposedly bullied a girl to the brink of tears?! My reputation and life are done for! Just leave me here so I can wallow in tears caused by the severe hatred that I truly deserve!” Klug slammed his head on his desk and begun crying heavy tears which got his desk soaking wet.

I turned to the other two girls, during which Raffina got up from her desk and walked over to Klug’s desk, where she stood next to me and over Klug’s depressed self. Then, she did something that truly shocked the three of us in the room. Raffina grabbed Klug from the back of his vest and pulled him up to a standing stance. Then…

***SLAP***

…She slapped him across the face. Hard. So hard in fact, that it sent Klug tumbling back to his chair. And it left a red mark on his cheek.

“ **Wha-What the hell?! What was that for?!** ” Klug angrily said.

“ **SHUT IT!** ” Raffina yelled, and Klug immediately did so.

“We may not like each other, but I’m not going to just sit here and let someone suffer from severe harassment, that may lead to something worse, for something that wasn’t completely their fault!”

“H-Huh? What are you talking about?” Klug asked.

"Amitie, care to explain?" Raffina said as she turned to me. I was still in shock by what she did just now. But managed to come to just in time.

“Uh…yeah. Right.” I said.

So then I told Klug everything. About my father and what he did to me, about my hat and what it did to me, why Tarutaru had to leave so suddenly…I almost broke down crying reliving those memories again, but I knew that if I did, it would only make things worse for Klug. When I was finished explaining, Raffina held me tight to comfort me.

“W-Wow…that’s…some story.” Klug said.

“Do you understand now, Klug? You don’t have to keep blaming yourself anymore.” Raffina continued from earlier.

“Well, yeah I get it. But what about the others? There’s no way they’ll believe me.”

“Y-Yeah, you do have a point.”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that.” A random familiar voice said. We looked to where the voice came from to see Ms. Accord standing at the door entrance with her usual, yet somehow suspicious smile.

“Ms. Accord?! Were you listening the whole time?!” Lidelle asked.

“Well, not the _whole_ time. I came around the part where Raffina slapped Klug.”

“ _Hehhehheh…_ ” Raffina awkwardly laughed.

“Anyway, no need to worry about everyone else. I’ll go on ahead after school and explain to the others what happened that day. By the time you four show up, everything should be all cleared up.”

“W-Wow! Th-Thank you, Ms. Accord! You’re a life saver!” Klug yelled with glee.

“No problem at all. Now, let’s get started. We’re running a little late for class.”

“Yes, Ms. Accord.” We all said as we went back to our desk and begun class for the day.

 

**Raffina’s POV**

 

 

After school, Ms. Accord kept her promise and went to the party ahead of us to clear up the rumors about Klug. About an hour later, we were on our way there ourselves. Me, Amitie, Lidelle, and…

“Come on, Klug. You’re going to make us late.” I said turning to him.

“I-I don’t know about this. Do they even **want** me there?” Klug said, still feeling discouraged.

After Ms. Accord had left, Amitie had invited Klug to her birthday party held at the sweets parlor. It took a bit of convincing, but Klug eventually gave in and left the school with us to head for the parlor. But now it looks like he’s having second thoughts.

“Aw come on, Klug. You’re overreacting. Ms. Accord said she’ll handle it and she will. So, you have nothing to worry about. Right, Raffina?” Amitie said while smiling at me.

“Right, Amitie!” I replied with my arm wrapped around her. Klug didn’t say anything and instead kept looking at us with an embarrassing look on his face.

“What?” Amitie asked.

“N-Nothing.” He said. “It’s just you and Raffina have gotten rather…close…since that day.”

“So no one told you?”

“Why would they?”

“Oh, right. Well…since that day, me and Raffina…became a couple.”

“W-Wow, really?! I didn’t think you swung that way, Raffina.”

“Me neither at first. But when I saw Amitie for the first time, something inside me clicked…and then the other stuff happened.” Raffina explained.

"I see. Well, I wish you two the best." What Klug said just now took all three of us by surprise.

“W-Wow, Klug. That’s the first nice thing you’ve ever said to me.” I said in disbelief.

“W-Well, if all goes well at the party, I’ve been thinking of turning over a new leaf of sorts. Being hated by everyone really isn’t a good feeling.” He said.

“Well, I’ll be rooting for you, Klug.”

“Me too.” Amitie said.

“Me as well.” Lidelle added.

“Th-Thanks, guys.” Klug said looking more confident than earlier.

 

A couple more minutes of walking later and we ended up standing in front of the sweets parlor. Whatever confidence Klug had earlier seemed to disappear the moment we got there, but with a few more convincing from the three of us, he was ready to go inside…after the three of us. It’s close enough, right?

When we went inside, there were students from other classes, along with Ms. Accord, Lemres, Oshare Bones, and Amira. Melody wasn’t there yet. Don’t know what errand would take nearly half the day to complete.

“Hey…Klug…” said one girl who walked up to us.

“O-Oh. You’re from class D, right?” Klug spoke up.

“Yeah. We just want to apologize. Ms. Accord told us everything.”

“We feel really bad for how we treated you. Could you ever forgive us?” Said a boy from class C.

“I forgive you, but I should be the one apologizing. I’ve been such a jerk to everyone for so long. Now actually seeing what you all deal with, it changed me. I plan to be nicer to people from now on.”

“That would be greatly appreciated, Klug.” Ms. Accord said.

“Well, now with that out of the way, what do you say we start this party, shall we?” Lemres said.

“Well, it’s about time! I was starving through all that emotional stuff!” Amira shouted.

_Geez, Amira. You could’ve at least pretend to care._

“Hold on there, Amira. First is the gifts.”

"Gifts? Aw, come on, Lemres! I can't wait much longer!"

“Really, Amira? Are you sure you can’t hold on much longer? Not even for my Triple Strawberry Cheesecake Supreme?”

“Tr-Triple…Strawberry…Cheesecake… **SUPREME?!** ”

"Raffina. is that…" Amitie turned to me.

“Amira’s favorite cake? Oh yeah, big time.” I said.

“I…guess I can wait a little longer.” Amira said after calming down a bit.

“Good girl. Now, who’s first?”

The gift giving went by smoothly. Oshare Bones’ gift was a tacky looking sweater with multiple colors on it. He said it was a psychedelic sweater.

I told Amitie what psychedelic meant, and suggested that she only wear it at home. She agreed without hesitation.

Lemres’ gift was a giant gummy bear that had to be held with both hands. He said that it took him 3 days to make it by himself.

“ _L-Lemres…h-how heavy is this thing?_ ” Amitie asked while struggling to hold it.

“Oh, it’s about um…5 pounds or so.”

“F-Five pounds?!”

“Do you not like it?” Lemres sounded sad.

“No, no. I do like it. It’ll take me a while to eat the whole thing, but I do like it. Thank you, Lemres.”

“The pleasure’s all mine, Amitie.” Lemres chuckled as tipped his hat.

_Good luck with that, Amitie._

Ms. Accord’s gift was just a homework pass. She said that she was extremely busy with something leading up to today, so it was the best she could do at the last minute. When we asked what, all she said was that it was a secret, which was an answer that we were expecting.

Amira’s gift was a simple birthday card. Inside was $20 and a note that read:

_Happy Birthday, Amitie! May you and my little sis have many lesbo experiences together! Ciao!_

_Amira_

Needless to say, I punched Amira in the arm for that joke.

Klug didn't have a gift, but how could he when he was told about this party at the last minute, along with what he's been dealing with this past month. Amitie said not to worry about it, but he insisted to make it up someday. And to also think of it as an apology gift.

Lidelle's gift was a pretty looking flower called the Moon-Sun Flower. Its petals were the same color as the moon and its center was the same color as the sun. It can receive energy from both the sun and the moon.

"Wow, Lidelle. This flower is pretty. Thank you." Amitie said in astonishment as she kept staring at the flower.

“You’re welcome, Amitie. There’s plenty more back at the shrine, so feel free to come by and pick some.” Lidelle said.

“Huh? The shrine?”

“Yeah. I am a shrine maiden, after all.”

"R-Really?!" Amitie, Klug, and I said in unison.

“Yes, really. I can understand Amitie not knowing, but I can’t believe neither you or Klug knew this whole time, Raffina.”

"Well, you never said anything about it, Lidelle." I said.

"Well, who do you think would chime those bells every New Year's when I'm trying to sleep, meow?" Popoi said.

“Popoi, shush!” Ms. Accord scolded him.

"Now I really want to see you in that shrine maiden outfit, Lidelle!" Amitie said fully elated.

“Well, you’re going to have to wait 7 months for that, Amitie.”

“ **7 MONTHS?!** ”

“That is when New Year’s is.”

“Fiddlesticks. I can still come over, right?”

“Sure. Why not?”

“Yay! Let’s go together, Raffina! It’ll be our first date!”

“D-Date?!” I stuttered in shocked. It didn’t take long for Amitie to realize what she just said, and started to blush out of embarrassment.

“S-Sorry. I wasn’t thinking…” she said softly.

“No, you didn’t do anything wrong. I mean, you **are** my girlfriend. Going on a date with you is perfectly normal. It’s just the first time I’ve heard the words “ _first date_ ”, y’know?”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Anyway, let me give you my gift next, Amitie.” I said to break the awkwardness between us. I gave her a bag with the words “ _Happy Birthday_ ” printed across it. Amitie looked in the bag and pulled out a small box. As she opened it, her eyes grew wider. What was in the box was a hairpin that resembled a red blobby thing with eyes.

“Raffina, did you make this?” She asked.

“Yep. I do this as a hobby of mine. I made this one special. You like it?” I said.

“Like it?! I **LOVE** it! Thank you Raffina!” Amitie ran up to me and hugged me as she kissed me on the lips. I kissed her back and eventually we were cuddling each other right then and there.

“Uh…guys?” Lidelle said as she nudged my arm. We realized what we were doing and broke off each other’s grasp.

“S-Sorry, everyone.” We both said. Everybody in the room started laughing and we soon did the same.

“Oh good, I made it!” We hear a voice coming from the back of the parlor and as we turn around we see that it’s Melody, who for some reason came in thru the back door.

"Geez, Melody. Late as always. I guess some things never change." Ms. Accord said.

“Give me a break, Accord. I had to do a quick errand.”

“If it was a quick errand then why didn’t you do it earlier?

“She probably fell asleep again. Typical, meow.” Popoi added.

"I see you're as grumpy as ever, Popoi." Melody said while staring at him.

“What do you expect? I’m a cat. I’m always like this, meow.”

The rest of us just stood there, not knowing what was happening right now.

“Mom, what’s going on? How do you and Ms. Accord know each other?” Amitie asked.

“Seriously, Melody? You haven’t told your own daughter yet?” Ms. Accord asked her.

“I was busy with the light novel! It slipped my mind! You know how I am, Accord. When I set my mind on something, other things are…less important.”

“You really haven’t changed at all, Melody.”

"Uh…" At this point, we were more confused than earlier.

“Oh, so sorry, everyone. I got ahead of myself.” Ms. Accord said then begun to clear her throat. “Well you see Amitie, your mom and I used to be classmates in high school.”

“No way! Really?!” Amitie shouted.

"Yep. We were friends for all three years. Then when we graduated, your mom moved down south for college and I came here to become a teacher."

“Wow. Small world, right guys?”

“But wait, so does that mean there wasn’t a school here?” I asked.

“Well, we’re not from here. We went to a high school in a town called Suzuran City.”

“Suzuran City? I have a cousin that lives there. She’s the same age as me.” Lidelle said.

“Really now? Small world indeed.”

“Anyway!” Melody interrupted. “Enough about us, this is Ami’s special day. You are going to flip out when you see what I got you for a present.”

“Let me guess, Mom. Is it more teasing?” Amitie asked.

“No, of course not! Although now that I think about it…”

“ **Mom!** ”

“I was just kidding! Sheesh! Alright, you can come in now!”

“Huh? Who can come in now?”

“Hiya, Ami!” We heard a voice coming from the same area we heard Melody’s voice. Then, out of the blue, a girl came out of the back room. She had orange hair made into a small ponytail and green eyes that were as bright as emeralds. She was wearing a weird looking combination of clothes. A red shirt with black long sleeves, black shorts, orange and white shoes, and a black and white baseball cap. I had no idea who this girl was, but from the look of Amitie’s face when I turned to her, she clearly did.

“ **Ally?! Is that you?!** ” She yelled.

“ **Surprise!** ” The girl, who apparently is named Ally shouted.

Amitie ran towards Ally and the two hugged each other while screaming and jumping together. For some reason, while watching this happen I felt a sharp pain in my heart.

_Is this what jealousy feels like?_

“Raffina, you okay? You look distraught.” Lidelle asked.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I’m fine, Lidelle. I was just…thinking to myself.” I answered.

“You don’t need to worry about her, Raffina.” Melody noticed the sad look on my face and came over to comfort me.

“I don’t? How come?”

“Ally is Ami’s childhood friend. They used to go to the same school in our old town. But when… **that** …happened, it was a real difficult goodbye for the two of them.”

“I see.”

At the same time, Amitie and Ally had finished their happy dance and had come over to where we were at.

“Ally, there are some people I want you to meet.” Amitie said. “That boy to the right with the purple vest is Klug. He used to be an annoying, selfish jerk, but now he’ll be a lot nicer.”

“D-Did you really have to say the first part?” Klug asked.

“The girl with the green hair and the oversized sweater is my friend, Lidelle.”

“Nice to meet you, Ally.” Lidelle greeted while bowing. “And seriously, Amitie? You point out my sweater of all things? And it’s not oversized, it’s just…the sleeves are too big…”

“And the best part. The tall girl with the pink hair and the orange sailor suit…is my girlfriend, Raffina.”

“It’s not a sailor suit.” I said, sounding slightly insulted.

“Your girlfriend? Wow, Ami. If I knew that you swung that way, I would’ve taken you for myself.” Ally said with a flirty tone.

“ **W-WHAT?!** ”

“ **ALLY!** ” Amitie shouted at her.

“I’m only kidding, Ami. Man, Melody was right. Teasing you **is** fun!”

Amitie looked over at Melody with a pissed off look on her face.

“ _Crap_. Uh, H-Hey look. Lemres is bringing out the cake. I’m going to go get some.” Melody said nervously as she left to get cake.

“We’re not done talking about this, Mom!” Amitie shouted across the room.

“Sorry, can’t hear ya.”

The rest of us were laughing at their antics yet again.

 

Hours passed, and the party had ended. Everyone had gone home except for me, Amitie, Melody, Lidelle, and Ally. We decided to help Lemres clean up the place since he had to leave early for a small emergency. While we were cleaning, we asked Ally some of those generic questions that you would normally ask someone when you first meet them. One of the answers Ally gave was quite interesting.

“Get real? You’re CPR certified, Ally?” Amitie asked.

“Yep! I just finished the class last week. Want me to show you how it works?” She offered.

“You bet!”

“Alright. Hey, Lidelle, mind if use you for a sec?”

“Uh, sure Ally.” Lidelle said. Ally then got behind Lidelle and prepared to demonstrate how it works.

“So, you want to come under into the Nissan Maximas…” Ally said as she wrapped her around Lidelle’s chest.

“Really, Ally?” Amitie complained.

"Ami! Don't interrupt! You're going to make me lose my concentration!"

“Alright, fine. Continue.”

“Thank you. So like I said, you want to come under into the Nissan Maximas, push right here, right under the Regis Philbin, until something pops out. Some people will do it wrong and will go right on top of the Nissan Altimas. You want to get underneath to the Nissan Maximas right here. Not too low to the Nissan Sentras. And you want to get them right in the Pathfinder.”

As Ally was finishing the last sentence, she was pumping Lidelle so hard in the chest that Lidelle would often be lifted off the floor. She then stopped and let go of Lidelle, who was rubbing her chest in pain.

“Uh…Amitie? What the hell was she talking about?” I asked, completely lost during the entirety of Ally’s demonstration.

“Ally got this “ _technique_ ” of hers from a TV show she loves to watch. It’s about these four guys who knew each other since high school who go around the city they live in and compete to embarrass each other in front of other strangers. I forgot the name of it, but I'm not into it as much as she is." Amitie explained.

“So something she got from a TV show helped her become CPR certified?”

“It surprisingly works.”

The rest of us gathered around Lidelle, who took a seat in a nearby chair to ease the pain.

“You okay, Lidelle?” I asked.

“I’m fine. It’s just my chest hurts a little.”

“Well…” The four of us said.

“Well, what?”

“Well, Lidelle…you kinda don’t have…anything there.” I said nervously.

“ _B-B-B-B-But, I’m still growing! I’m only 15! I’m sure that they’re just growing…slowly._ ” Lidelle was intensively blushing at this point.

The rest of us didn’t say anything else and went back to cleaning.

“Guys? **Guys! Don’t awkwardly ignore me!** ” She yelled.

 

About haft an hour later we finished cleaning and closed up the parlor. We were standing outside about to say our goodbyes.

“Gee, Ally. It was nice to see you again. Sucks that you have to go back.” Amitie said.

“Huh? You mean you don’t know?” Ally asked.

“Know what?”

“About that. I got one more surprise for you, Ami.” Melody spoke up. “Ally’s moving in with us!”

“ **NO WAY?! REALLY?!** ”

“Yep. All of my stuff’s already at your house.” Ally explained.

“Was this the errand you were talking about?” Lidelle asked Melody.

“Yep. I knew she was coming for weeks, so I decided to keep it a secret until today.”

“I’m even going to the same school as you guys.” Ally added.

“So…freaking… **AWESOME!!!** ” Amitie shouted as she hugged Ally for the second time today. I wasn’t as jealous as before when this happened, but the sight of it still bugged me a little.

“Well, good for you guys. I’m going home. See you tomorrow.” I said then started walking the other direction.

“H-Hold up, Raffina!” Amitie said as she grabbed my hand with hers and held it tight. I turned around to face her, and she gave a long, passionate kiss on the lips. She soon wrapped her arms around her waist and I wrapped my arms around hers. Amitie’s lips felt so soft against mine. After 2 minutes of what felt like the best we've had yet, we parted our lips and stared at each other in an intense glare of delightfulness.

“I love you, Raffina.” Amitie said.

“I love you too, Amitie.” I said back.

I watched as Amitie got into the car with Melody and Ally and they drove off in a different direction from where Lidelle and I were walking. The two of us then began walking to our homes. While doing so, I noticed Lidelle staring into space so intensively, like she was thinking of something big.

“Hey, Lidelle. You okay?” I asked.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I’m fine, Raffina. I was just thinking about something.” She answered.

“Is it about your chest?”

“ **NO!** ”

“Sorry, Sorry. What’s on your mind, then?”

“Well, Ally said she was going to the same school as us, right? Do you think she’ll be in our class, too?”

“Probably. Why you ask?”

“Eh…no reason.” Lidelle started blushing when she said that. I didn’t want her more uncomfortable than she already was, so I decided not to question it. We eventually parted ways and I started walking home by myself.

 

When I got home, it was pitch black aside from a single lamp in the living room. Amira and Lily had already gone to bed and probably forgot to turn it off. I turned the lamp off and headed for my room to take a shower.

After the shower, I laid in my bed staring at the ceiling. I remember doing this exact same thing before, only that time I didn't have a girlfriend. I closed my eyes and thought of all the madness that happened ever since Amitie moved here. Even though I almost died at one point, meeting Amitie was the best thing that could ever happen to me.

I grabbed a nearby pillow and snuggled against it like it was Amitie sleeping next to me.

_Amitie. I hope we can be together forever._

With those 7 words flowing through my mind, I fell asleep and entered a dream world with the most wonderful person in my life.

My one true love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rewrite’s done. Nothing much to say except that it really needed it. Thanks for reading. Later.


End file.
